








































































































V 


SEX WORSHIP. 



Sex Worship 

AN EXPOSITION OF THE PHALLIC 
ORIGIN OF RELIGION 


BY 

CLIFFORD HOWARD 


THIRD EDITION 


CHICAGO MEDICAL BOOK COMPANY 

CHICAGO 

1899 


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BY CLIFFORD HOWARD 
1898. 


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PREFACE. 


This work has for its object a general 
presentation of sex worship, or phallicism 
(the worship of the generative powers of 
nature), for the purpose of demonstrating 
that the various religious faiths of the 
world have had a common origin, and are 
founded upon a natural, material basis— 
the adoration of life in its phenomena of 
creation and reproduction. 

A thorough and exhaustive treatment 
of the subject is, of course, beyond the 
scope of the present work, which is limited 
solely to an exposition of the principal and 
more salient features of phallicism, in its 
direct and obvious relation to theology and 
to the religious beliefs and symbols of the 
present day. No attempt has, therefore, 
been made to treat any of the particular 
or more complex phases of the subject, 

5 


6 


PREFACE. 


nor to discuss its social and physiological 
aspects, which, although of great value and 
interest, could not appropriately be treated 
within the limits of this volume. 

The work here presented embodies a 
large amount of original research, as well 
as the investigations of leading authorities 
on the subject, all of whose works have 
been carefully studied. The author has 
avoided making any foot-note references 
to these authorities, for not only do such 
notes fail to serve any practical purpose— 
except to satisfy the critical reader that 
the writer has not drawn upon his own 
imagination,—but in the present instance 
the data at the command of the author 
have been gathered from such a variety of 
sources, and the evidence presented by 
them is so largely cumulative, while at the 
same time they are so closely interwoven 
with the facts derived from the author’s 
individual investigations and discoveries, 
that it would be a difficult matter to clas¬ 
sify his statements in accordance with 
their primary source. 


PREFACE. 


7 


It has, therefore, been deemed sufficient 
to append hereto a list of the principal 
books on phallicism consulted by the au¬ 
thor in the preparation of this work. 
While this list does not pretend to be a 
complete bibliography, it probably repre¬ 
sents the most important English works 
on phallic worship, and will, it is hoped, 
be of service to such students as may de¬ 
sire to investigate the subject more fully. 

All of these books, however, are exceed¬ 
ingly rare and difficult to obtain, for up 
to this time the study of sex worship has 
been confined to a small class of scholars 
and investigators, who have been careful 
to withhold from the public the compara¬ 
tively few works on the subject; so that 
the general student has had little or no 
opportunity for acquainting himself with 
the revelations of this important branch 
of knowledge. 

It is hoped, therefore, that the present 
work may prove of interest to the thought¬ 
ful and intelligent public, for whom it is 
designed, and that it will be received and 


8 


PREFACE. 


appreciated in the spirit that its impor¬ 
tance and significance deserve. 

the Author. 

Washington, 

1897. 


CONTENTS, 


CHAP. FAGB. 

Introduction. 11 

I. The Basis of Religion. 25 

II. The Creator. 44 

III. The Phallus. 63 

IV. Phallic Emblems. 84 

V. Sexual Sacrifices. 103 

VI. The Female Principle. 117 

VII. Feminine Emblems. 130 

VIII. The Serpent and the Cross. 154 

IX. The Divine Act. 172 

X. Regeneration. 189 


Appendix. List of Works on Phallicism.. 213 
















INTRODUCTION. 

No subject is of greater importance and 
significance in the evolution of the human 
race than that of sex worship—the adora¬ 
tion of the generative organs as symbols 
of the creative powers of nature. It is 
indelibly impressed upon our beliefs, our 
language and our institutions. It consti¬ 
tutes the basis of theology, and underlies 
the mythologies of all nations. It is the 
source of our present religious symbols 
and church architecture, and is the origin 
of many of our most familiar and sacred 
celebrations. In a word, it is the founda¬ 
tion of religious faith and worship. 

Sex worship, or phallicism, was not con¬ 
fined to any one race nor to any particular 
age in the history of the world. It was 
the form of worship common to all the 
early nations of the globe ; a worship uni- 

ii 


12 


INTRODUCTION. 


versally inspired by the manifestations of 
nature in her great mystery of life and 
procreation. 

While the highest development of phalli- 
cism was reached by the ancient Egyp¬ 
tians, Assyrians, Hindoos, Greeks, and 
Romans, proof of the existence of this 
form of religion is to be found in every 
part of the earth inhabited by man. Per¬ 
sia, India, Ceylon, China, Japan, Burmah, 
Java, Arabia, Syria, Asia Minor, Egypt, 
Ethiopia, Europe and the British Isles, 
together with Mexico, Central America, 
Peru and various other portions of the 
western hemisphere—all yield abundant 
evidence in support of the universality of 
phallic worship as a primitive form of re¬ 
ligion, and of the common origin of theo¬ 
logical creeds. 

It must not, however, be supposed that 
sex worship was peculiar alone to the past 
ages. It is common among primitive 
peoples in all parts of the world to-day ; 
and in India, where this form of religion 
has existed uninterruptedly for thousands 


INTRODUCTION. 


13 


of years, there are at the present time up¬ 
wards of one hundred million true phallic- 
worshipers. Among the Zufii and other 
North American tribes phallicism enters 
largely into their religious ceremonies, 
while the natives of many of the Pacific 
islands and various parts of Africa are 
most ardent devotees in the worship of 
the procreative functions, and practise 
their religion in the realistic and unequiv¬ 
ocal manner of primeval naturalness. 

While there are doubtless many who 
may be inclined to question the relation¬ 
ship between the religious rites and sym¬ 
bols of the present day, and those em¬ 
ployed in the past ages of phallic worship, 
the fact nevertheless remains—and is ap¬ 
preciated by all students of ethnology,— 
that religious institutions as they exist to¬ 
day are but the outgrowth or modification 
of others that preceded them, or are simply 
a continuation of ancient forms adapted 
to new meanings or purposes. This is 
true of all features of sociological life, and 
is a necessary incident of the progress of 


14 


INTRODUCTION. 


society and of the evolution of the human 
mind. 

In the study of language, for example, 
we find innumerable instances in which 
the primary meaning of a word or a name 
has been completely altered. In the 
course of time the original significance 
has lost its force, and the word has be¬ 
come adapted to a new meaning, having 
no resemblance whatsoever to that which 
it had at first; as in the case of our word 
idiot (to cite one example out of a thou¬ 
sand), which, in the original Greek, was a 
term used to distinguish a private citizen 
from one who held office, and had no ref¬ 
erence to his mental qualities. 

In the same manner many of our social 
customs have come down to us through 
the centuries, and are retained either as a 
matter of habit, or because they fit some 
present condition, though their original 
purpose has long been forgotten or has 
become obsolete. This is illustrated in 
our custom of shaking hands as a mode of 
greeting; a practice that had its beginning 


INTRODUCTION. 


15 


in the days when every man stood ready 
to slay his fellow-creatures, and when 
good will and friendship could best be 
shown by a man’s giving to another his 
right hand, thereby indicating his peace¬ 
able intentions through his inability to 
draw his sword ; and to this day we con¬ 
tinue to give the right hand, to the exclu¬ 
sion of the left, although the sense and 
reason for it no longer exist. 

So, also, do our present marriage cus¬ 
toms afford a striking example of the re¬ 
lationship existing between primitive and 
modern institutions, and of the influence 
and persistence of the primary features of 
the social organism through all the ages 
of its growth and development. Probably 
there are few who stop to seek the pri¬ 
mary reason for many of our marriage 
customs—why it is that the woman re¬ 
ceives presents prior to the wedding ; why 
the man invariably goes to the house of 
the bride, and the bride never to the house 
of the groom, to be married ; why the 
bridegroom is attended by a “ best man,” 


l6 INTRODUCTION. 

why he has a ring placed upon the finger of 
the bride, and why he hurries away with her 
on a wedding journey. 

These and many other incidents of 
marriage are so familiar to us, and have 
become so much a matter of course, that 
we do not realize that in these customs 
we are but repeating in conventional 
form the acts of our primitive and sav¬ 
age forefathers, in those early days of 
human society when a man was obliged 
either to capture his wife and run away 
with her (an undertaking ofttimes requir¬ 
ing the assistance of a trusted friend), or 
to purchase her with gifts contributed by 
himself and his family ; for a wife was a 
mere chattel, to be fought for or pur¬ 
chased ; and, when finally possessed, the 
token of her subjugation was a ring (the 
badge of servitude), which was placed 
upon one of her fingers. 

To those who have given any attention 
to the growth and derivation of human 
institutions these illustrative facts will at 
once be appreciated, and their citation 


INTRODUCTION. 


1 7 

may, perhaps, be considered an unneces¬ 
sary digression. Yet they will undoubt¬ 
edly tend to more readily convince the 
general reader that many features peculiar 
to human society may very easily have a 
past significance entirely at variance with 
that which they have to-day; so that it 
should not prove surprising to find that 
what is true of our language and our 
social customs, is equally true of our the¬ 
ology and church symbolism ; that many 
of our religious customs and emblems 
have come down to us from a remote past, 
and have simply been adapted to mean¬ 
ings and purposes in accordance with our 
present ideas and social conditions. 

In viewing the forms and ceremonials 
connected with the nature worship of 
early civilization it should be constantly 
borne in mind that, however extravagant 
or absurd they may appear to us, they 
served in their time a definite and reason¬ 
able purpose—that nothing comes into 
existence except as the result of an effi¬ 
cient cause. It must be remembered that 


2 


1 8 INTRODUCTION. 

among the early races of mankind lan¬ 
guage was largely symbolical ; that primi¬ 
tive man was obliged to resort to suggest¬ 
ive natural objects—and their more or less 
conventional symbolization—for the con¬ 
veyance of his ideas ; and hence the sun, 
the moon, the stars, the day and the night, 
the trees, the flowers, the animals—in 
short, all phenomena and forms of life 
were called into requisition to supply his 
need for some means of expressing his 
thoughts and emotions. Consequently, 
many objects and functions were given 
meanings which we to-day fail to appre¬ 
ciate, because of our dependence upon a 
fixed and formal language, and our con¬ 
sequent failure to see in these objects and 
functions anything beyond their direct 
and intrinsic significance. 

Nor must we fall into the error of re¬ 
garding the rites and symbols of phalli- 
cism in the light of modern prejudice. 
While on their surface they may appear 
incompatible with our present ideas of 
propriety, it should not be forgotten that 


INTRODUCTION. 


19 


morality and religion are purely relative 
terms, and that what is highly improper 
at one time may be both proper and re¬ 
ligious at another. It is scarcely neces¬ 
sary to remind any one, however superfi¬ 
cial may be his knowledge of history, that 
man’s conceptions of right and wrong 
have been constantly changing; that the 
standard of morality and religion has been 
different in each age ; that the virtue of 
yesterday is the sin of to-day, and that 
what one race has regarded with rever¬ 
ence another has spurned with con¬ 
demnation. 

Each age, and each nation in the his¬ 
tory of the world has had its individual 
ideals of morality ; and each race and each 
community to-day has its independent 
conceptions of virtue and goodness ; and 
while each set of people is convinced of 
the correctness of its own standard of 
ethics, no two of these standards agree in 
all particulars. On the contrary, many of 
them are in direct opposition to one an¬ 
other. 


20 


Introduction. 


It is only proper, therefore, in studying 
the customs and beliefs of any particular 
age or of a particular race, that we 
should acquaint ourselves with the sur¬ 
rounding and influencing conditions ; 
with the social and mental status of the 
race or community, and view its people 
from the standpoint of their own time 
and their own life conditions and environ¬ 
ment, without any reference to what may 
be the prevailing notions or beliefs as the 
result of entirely different conditions. 

In a primitive state of society man ex¬ 
presses himself with equal freedom and 
unreserve on all natural and physiological 
phenomena within his observation. Ex¬ 
perience has not yet suggested to him 
any necessity for concealing certain bodily 
functions, or for regarding certain of his 
appetites as essentially different from any 
of his other natural desires. 

This is a matter of common knowledge 
and observation, and is abundantly attest¬ 
ed by the records and the history of man¬ 
kind ; the evidence contained in the Old 


INTRODUCTION. 


21 


Testament being alone sufficient to con¬ 
vince any one of this feature of primordial 
social conditions. Not only do we find 
the writers of sacred history freely and 
unaffectedly referring to many things that 
in this day are considered indecent and 
unholy, or at least unfit for general dis¬ 
cussion, but the Lord himself is recorded 
as speaking on these topics with a fre¬ 
quency and in a manner to leave no doubt 
that nothing in their nature or suggestive¬ 
ness rendered them in those early days 
unworthy of even divine mention. 

This characteristic of the Scriptural 
writings is familiar to all readers of the 
Bible, and would prove of even greater 
significance and force were it not for the 
fact that many Hebrew words and expres¬ 
sions have been altered in their translation 
from the original, where they appear in a 
boldness and directness of meaning quite 
incompatible with latter-day notions of re¬ 
finement, and which cannot fail to satisfy 
the most skeptical, that matters pertain¬ 
ing to the generative functions and to the 


22 


INTRODUCTION. 


sexes were formerly discussed with per¬ 
fect familiarity and plainness, with no 
thought of impropriety or immodesty. 

But aside from all ethical considerations, 
it is only necessary to remember that re¬ 
ligion, in whatever form it may be mani¬ 
fested, always represents man’s highest 
and purest thought, and that no one would 
deliberately introduce into his religious 
worship anything that to his mind was 
impure or unholy. If phallic worship 
sometimes degenerated into licentiousness 
and other inconsistent practices, it is no 
more reasonable on this account to ques¬ 
tion its inherent righteousness and purity, 
than to deride Christianity because of the 
many sins that have been committed in 
its name by those who have prostituted 
religion to selfish and unholy purposes. 

Therefore, however absurd or unreason¬ 
able sex worship may appear to us at this 
day, let us not forget that it was man’s 
religion at the dawn of civilization; that 
it represents a stage in the development 
of the human mind, and that the grandest 


INTRODUCTION. 


23 


theologies of to-day are the outcome of 
this primitive mode of worship ; that it 
constitutes the basis of all that is sacred, 
holy and beautiful. 




SEX WORSHIP. 


CHAPTER I. 

THE BASIS OF RELIGION. 

The animating impulse of all organic 
life is the sexual instinct. It is that which 
underlies the struggle for existence in the 
animal world, and is the source of all hu¬ 
man endeavor and emotion. 

That affinity which draws the two sexes 
together for the purpose of uniting in the 
production of a new being—that over¬ 
mastering, universal impulse—is the most 
powerful factor in all that pertains to the 
human race, and has ever been the cause 
and the subject of man’s most exalted 
thought. 


25 



26 


SEX WORSHIP. 


In this day and age, when matters per¬ 
taining to the sexes are generally avoided, 
and we are taught that the sexual appetite 
is an animal craving, that should be sub¬ 
dued and concealed as unworthy of man’s 
superior nature, it is not surprising that 
the great majority of persons are blind to 
the vast importance and significance of the 
sexual nature in its relation to the affairs 
of the world, and that they fail to realize 
that not only is it the cause of our indi¬ 
vidual existence, but that it is the founda¬ 
tion of society and the well-spring of 
human life and happiness. 

It is not our purpose here to enter up¬ 
on a discussion of the physiological fea¬ 
tures of the subject, showing the intimate 
and unavoidable relationship existing be¬ 
tween the mind and the sexual instinct ; 
but suffice it to say, that were man de¬ 
prived of this instinct it would not only 
result in the extermination of the race 
(for procreation would be impossible in 
the absence of this animating desire), but 
all ambition, endeavor and affection, all 


THE BASIS OF RELIGION. 


27 


poetry, art and religion—in short, all the 
emotions and achievements inspired by 
what we term love would cease, and the 
world would become cold and passionless ; 
destitute of sentiment or aspiration, devoid 
of any incentive to progress or energy; 
while the intricate and reciprocal machin¬ 
ery of human society, robbed of its mo¬ 
tive force, would come to a stop and 
crumble away in hopeless disorganiza¬ 
tion. 

It is universally admitted that love is 
the animating spirit of the world ; and 
what is love but a manifestation of the 
sexual instinct ? The civilized man, who 
woos the object of his affection through 
the medium of inspired poetry and other 
sentimental graces, who reveals the long¬ 
ings of his heart in language and conduct 
at once pure, refined and tender, and who 
instinctively shrinks from the suggestion 
of any sensuality in his feelings, is never¬ 
theless actuated by precisely the same 
motive as that which governs the savage 
in his brutal and uncouth demonstration 


28 


SEX WORSHIP. 


of desire toward one of the opposite sex. 
Each is but giving expression, in accord¬ 
ance with his individual nature and social 
conditions, to the same feeling, the same 
impulse. In the one case we recognize it 
as love ; in the other, as sensuality ; yet 
both spring from the same source ; both 
are animated by the same instinct. 

Whatever reluctance there may be in 
admitting this physical truth, is due to 
the unfortunate fact that we have been 
taught to regard the generative nature as 
confined wholly within the narrow limits 
of its purely sensual manifestations, as ex¬ 
hibited in lust and mere animal gratifica¬ 
tion ; and, consequently, we fail to recog¬ 
nize it in its higher, nobler and all-pervad¬ 
ing form of love. But viewing it in its 
broad and true aspect, untrammeled by 
arbitrary definitions, we are forced to ad¬ 
mit its vital importance as the supreme 
factor in the life and welfare of the human 
race. 

Love, as an abstract power, is ever 
glorified and idealized, because we see in 


THE BASIS OF RELIGION. 2Q 

it the source, the inspiration, of all beauty, 
morality and sublimity ; the incentive to 
deeds of the highest and noblest charac¬ 
ter ; the elevating and controlling spirit 
of man’s life. Every poet, every artist, 
every composer—all who are gifted with 
power of most truly expressing the lofti¬ 
est emotions and feelings of mankind 
have found their inspiration in the in¬ 
exhaustible theme of love ; and no lan¬ 
guage, no expression, has ever been deem¬ 
ed too exalted, too far-reaching, for the 
portrayal of this universal and omnipotent 
passion. 

In our idealization of love it soars be¬ 
yond the bounds of earthly limitations, 
and we hesitate not to ascribe to it a di¬ 
vine character, and to embrace it in the 
highest and most sacred sphere of man’s 
intellectual domain—religion. Nay, do 
we not raise it to the loftiest point capable 
of attainment by the human mind, when 
we reverently exclaim, “ God is love ! tp 
—when we bow down and worship it as 
the divine essence, the supreme power ? 


3° 


SEX WORSHIP. 


It is not within the province of this 
work to attempt a complete analysis of 
love, or sexuality, in its complex relation 
to these higher and more subtle phases 
of human thought and conduct ; but 
enough has been said to indicate that the 
animating spirit of the human mind—the 
underlying principle of its lofty and holy 
emotions,—is the spiritualizing power of 
the sexual instinct; that this impulse lies 
at the foundation of all thought and action, 
and finds its grandest and most exalted 
expression in religion. 

Love is both the foundation and the 
pinnacle of religion ; the beginning and 
the end of human thought and aspiration. 
Religious emotion springs from the ani¬ 
mating power of the sexual nature, and 
through the emotion thus aroused we 
deify and worship the inspirational source 
of our spiritual longings. In every sense, 
both physical and spiritual, both material 
and ideal, love is the animating, creative 
force of the world ; the divine immanence 
of the universe; the actuating source of 


THE BASIS OF RELIGION. 31 

life, and the indwelling spirit of the soul; 
the beginning and end of all that is. 

It is not intended, however, that the 
proof of the basis of religious worship 
shall alone rest upon a physiological anal¬ 
ysis, however complete or demonstrative, 
but that the records of human history 
shall bear witness to the fact, that the¬ 
ology has sprung from the animating im¬ 
pulse of life, and that it has for its primary 
and universal object the worship of its in¬ 
spiring cause ; the worship of the mystery 
of life, of creation and reproduction; the 
worship of the omnipotent creative power. 

Of all the phenomena of nature there is 
none that has always so strongly excited 
the wonder and reverence of mankind as 
that of procreation—the transmission of 
life from one generation to another. At 
all times and on all hands we behold 
nature engaged in her ceaseless work of 
reproduction ; and yet the mystery of 
that wondrous creative power, which 
causes the plant to spring from the tiny 
seed, and brings the child—a new being— 


32 


SEX WORSHIP. 


into the world, is to-day as deep and in¬ 
spiring as it was to the mind of man in 
the early dawn of the world’s history. 

One of the first problems of human 
thought is that regarding creation. 
Where do we come from ? How is life 
produced? Who brings the new beings 
into the world? These are the natural 
and innocent questions that perplex the 
mind of every child; questions that from 
time immemorial have been asked by 
mankind, and have inspired a responsive 
belief in the existence of an eternal and 
almighty creative power; a belief that is 
common to all people of the world, and 
which constitutes the central and basic 
truth of all religious faiths. 

It is apparent to every one who has had 
an opportunity of studying the subject, 
that all religions have had a common 
origin, and that however much they may 
differ in their teachings and their institu¬ 
tions, they but represent different methods 
of worshiping one and the same object. 
Brahma, Jehovah, God, Allah and hun- 


THE BASIS OF RELIGION. 33 

dreds of others, are simply different 
names for the same deity, as viewed from 
different standpoints ; and this deity, this 
universal object of adoration, is the su¬ 
preme creative power. 

When the ambassador from the French 
court presented to the Buddhist king of 
Siam the request of Louis XIV that he 
would embrace Christianity, he replied : 
“ It is strange that the king of France 
should interest himself so much in a mat¬ 
ter which concerns only God, whilst He 
whom it does concern seems to have left 
it wholly to our discretion. Had it been 
agreeable to the Creator that all nations 
should have the same form of worship, 
would it not have been as easy for him in 
his omnipotence to have created all men 
with the same sentiments and dispositions, 
and to have inspired them with the same 
notions of the True Religion, as to en¬ 
dow them with such different tempers and 
inclinations? Ought we not rather to 
believe that the true God has as much 
pleasure in being honored by a variety of 
3 


34 


SEX WORSHIP. 


forms and ceremonies, as in being praised 
and glorified by a number of different 
creatures ? ” 

“ Even they who worship other gods,” 
says Krishna, the incarnate deity, in an 
ancient Hindu poem, “ worship me al¬ 
though they know it not.” 

These expressions, embody the teach¬ 
ings of the higher philosophy of the Bud¬ 
dhist and Hindu religions, which recognize 
the true source and motive of all religious 
faiths. According to them there is but one 
religion ; one supreme, everlasting truth ; 
and the so-called different religions of the 
world are but different modes of mani¬ 
festing and expressing this eternal truth. 

No two individuals, however closely re¬ 
lated by birth and circumstances, ever 
view the same object in exactly the same 
light. Much less, therefore, can we ex¬ 
pect widely separated nations, living 
under entirely different conditions, to re¬ 
semble one another in their views and cus¬ 
toms and to construct similar systems of 
morality and church government. Each 


THE BASIS OF RELIGION. 


35 


builds its social and theological structure 
in accordance with its ideas and needs ; 
each constructs a form of religion suitable 
to its conditions, mental and physical. 
Every being, every race, every age, has a 
form of religion in conformity with its in¬ 
dividual status and necessities. The savage 
no more comprehends our abstract, imper¬ 
sonal conception of the Almighty, than 
can we understand his reverence for a 
supreme god in the form of a wooden 
idol; yet both the savage and ourselves 
are worshiping identically the same object, 
and are actuated by the same motive. 

These facts become all the more ap¬ 
parent when we note how great is the 
diversity of thought and conduct among 
people of the same community and of the 
same religious faith. Do we not see 
Christianity broken up into a multitude of 
sects and denominations, each observing 
the same religion in a different manner? 
And do we not realize that the idea of 
God is subject to a multitude of interpre¬ 
tations? 


36 


SEX WORSHIP. 


Each Christian, while conforming to the 
general theological opinion, has his own 
individual conception of the Almighty ; 
and what is true of individuals is likewise 
true of denominations and of different gen¬ 
erations and periods in the history of 
Christianity. The character and attri¬ 
butes ascribed to the Deity are to-day, 
and ever have been, as various and con¬ 
flicting as are the opinions and feelings of 
mankind. Every man’s idea of God is 
dependent upon his nature, his education 
and his social condition. As the intellect 
and disposition are refined, so does the 
conception of the Supreme Being become 
more exalted and more spiritual, while to 
the mind of lesser development the Al¬ 
mighty appears more material, more per¬ 
sonal, more closely allied with man him¬ 
self, until we reach the anthropomorphic 
conception, in which God is regarded 
simply as an exaggerated human being, 
endowed with the same feelings and emo¬ 
tions that actuate his creatures, and gov¬ 
erned by the same passions and impulses ; 


THE BASIS OF RELIGION. 37 

as we find illustrated in the Old-Testament 
descriptions of Jehovah. 

While Jehovah and the God of Chris¬ 
tianity are one and the same Being, there 
are probably few Christians to-day whose 
conception of the Creator accords with 
that entertained by the Israelites ; for, in 
truth, it is not such as is in harmony with 
the present religion of love and peace, but, 
on the contrary, is that of a vengeful, 
sanguinary deity; one who was easily 
aroused to anger, and did not hesitate to 
scourge and to slay those who opposed 
him ; destroying at one time as many as 
fifty thousand, in a sudden fit of indigna¬ 
tion, and constantly commanding the Is¬ 
raelites to wage war against and to lay 
waste the lands and cities of their enemies ; 
afflicting with plagues, pestilence and 
famine those who displeased him, and 
threatening his chosen people with dread¬ 
ful curses and cruel punishments should 
they fail to obey him : “ Cursed shalt thou 
be in the city, and cursed shalt thou be in 
the field. Cursed shalt thou be when 


3^ 


SEX WORSHIP. 


thou comest in, and cursed shalt thou be 
when thou goest out. The Lord shall 
smite thee with a consumption, and with 
a fever, and with an inflammation, and with 
an extreme burning, and with the sword, 
and with blasting, and with mildew. And 
the Lord will smite thee with the botch 
of Egypt, and with the emerods, and with 
the scab, and with the itch, whereof thou 
canst not be healed. Moreover he will 
bring upon thee all the diseases of Egypt, 
which thou wast afraid of, and they shall 
cleave unto thee. Also every sickness 
and every plague, which is not written in 
the book of this law, them will the Lord 
bring upon thee, until thou be destroyed.” 
These and many more are the curses 
enumerated in the Lord’s malediction 
against the Israelites, as found in the 
twenty-eighth chapter of Deuteronomy. 

We have here, therefore, in our own 
theological history, a striking example of 
what has just been said regarding the dis¬ 
similar ideas and representations of one 
and the same deity,—each age, each race, 


THE BASIS OF RELIGION. 39 

each denomination having its individual 
conception of God, in accordance with the 
social and intellectual status of its people. 

When we trace the development and 
growth of Christian civilization through 
the past centuries, we find that religious 
notions and customs, in common with 
the idea of God, have been constantly 
changing, and that what we call Christian¬ 
ity has embraced every conceivable vari¬ 
ety of thought and conduct; that it has 
served as the authority for practices and 
institutions that at another time have 
been condemned by the same authority. 
The Inquisition flourished in its name ; 
the valiant Crusades were carried on under 
its banners ; it has filled the world with 
darkness and with misery, and it has been 
the beacon light of hope and salvation 
—the glorious annunciation of joy and 
liberty. 

But, despite these marvelous changes 
and contradictions, who will say that 
Christianity itself has changed ; that the 
foundation on which it rests has been 


40 


SEX WORSHIP. 


shaken ? The fundamental doctrines and 
truths have remained unaltered; they 
have simply been modified and adapted 
to the various stages in the evolution of 
human society, now appearing in one 
form, and now in another, concordantly 
with the social and mental development 
of the race. 

So, also, do we find that many of the 
main features of Christianity are simply 
modifications or adaptations of those exist¬ 
ing in older forms of religion. We know^ 
that long prior to the time of Christ, man¬ 
kind worshiped the Almighty in the form 
of a triune god. The Hindoos had their 
Brahma, Vishnu and Siva—Creator, Pre¬ 
server and Reproducer, or Holy Spirit, 
whose emblem was a dove. The Assyr¬ 
ians, too, worshiped a Trinity, as did also 
the ancient Persians, Egyptians, Pheni- 
cians, Scandinavians, Chaldeans and 
Romans. In fact, the Supreme Being 
was worshiped by nearly all the early 
nations as a triple deity—three in one. 

The legend of the creation and fall of 


THE BASIS OF RELIGION. 41 

man is likewise common to all of the prin¬ 
cipal ancient faiths. In some of the rec¬ 
ords, as the Zend-Avesta of the Persians, 
and the Vedas of the Hindoos, this legend 
bears a remarkable likeness in many of its 
details to that contained in the Bible. 
There have been found ancient Assyrian 
cylinders, pictorially recording the temp¬ 
tation and fall of man, and in the British 
Museum there are cuneiform inscriptions 
showing conclusively that the Babylon¬ 
ians had this legend fifteen hundred years 
or more before the book of Genesis was 
written. 

The belief in a Savior, a Son of God, 
who was born of a Virgin, died for the 
salvation of men, and rose again after 
death, dates back centuries and even thou¬ 
sands of years before the Christian era, as 
we see in the religions of Egypt, China, 
India, Mexico and other ancient nations. 
For a thousand years before the birth of 
Christ the Hindoos worshiped their virgin- 
born Redeemer, Krishna; relating his 
wonderful miracles, following his righteous 


42 


SEX WORSHIP. 


teachings, and calling him the Resurrec¬ 
tion and the Life, the Good Shepherd, and 
the Light of the World. 

Buddha, the Son of God, born of the 
Virgin Mary, and founder of the faith that 
to-day numbers more adherents than that 
of any other in the world,came to earth and 
died for the redemption of mankind nearly 
five hundred years before the time of 
Christ; while Horus, the Egyptian Sa¬ 
vior, according to tradition, lived about 
six thousand years ago. For ages before 
the discovery of America by Columbus, 
the Mexicans worshiped their Redeemer, 
Qu etzalc oatL who was born of Sochiquet- 
zal, a pure virgin, chosen by God to be 
the mother of his only begotten son. 

In short, we find that the fundamental 
religious beliefs of the world have re¬ 
mained unchanged from time immemorial, 
however diversified and contradictory 
have been their superincumbent theol¬ 
ogies, and that beneath the outward and 
ceremonial differences of the various faiths 
of mankind, throughout all the world and 


THE BASIS OF RELIGION. 43 

throughout all the ages of human history, 
there are to be found the same legends 
and the same beliefs ; all pointing to a 
common origin, to a universal foundation 
—the worship of nature in its great mys¬ 
tery of life ; the worship of the supreme 
creative power. 


CHAPTER II. 


THE CREATOR. 

As was stated in the preceding chapter, 
the phenomenon of procreation has ever 
been a source of deepest interest, curiosity 
and reverence, and we may readily im¬ 
agine how directly and forcibly it must 
have impressed itself upon the mind of 
man in those early days of his social de¬ 
velopment, when he was more closely de¬ 
pendent upon nature than he is now, and 
when the necessities of his condition ren¬ 
dered him keenly observant of all phe¬ 
nomena. 

In the infancy of man’s mentality the 
manifestations of nature were unintelligi¬ 
ble ; but with that instinct which is still 
inherent in the human race, he struggled 
with his finite mind to grasp the infinite, 
and in his endeavor to comprehend the 
44 


THE CREATOR. 45 

forces and wonders of the universe, he 
clothed them with the imagery of his un¬ 
tutored mind, and they became to him 
living entities like himself; the personi¬ 
fications of his emotions and desires; the 
representations of superior beings, upon 
whom he was dependent for his existence 
and happiness. 

Naturally, he learned to regard most 
highly that which not only afforded him 
the greatest pleasure and the greatest 
good, but which appeared to him as the 
most powerful and the most incompre¬ 
hensible, and thus it was that he came to 
look upon the generative power as su¬ 
perior to aught else. The creative act was 
his incomparably greatest pleasure, and 
produced the most wonderful and most- 
prized result—a new being like himself. 
Surely, within the range of his observation 
and experience there was nothing in na¬ 
ture at once so mysterious, so potent, so 
awe-inspiring; so overpowering in its 
manifestations, so inexplicably marvelous 
in its results ; silent and invisible in its 



46 


SEX WORSHIP. 


operations; omnipotent and supreme in 
its powers and capabilities. 

Man’s first impulse is to suppose that 
the immediately preceding act is the 
cause of the immediately succeeding re¬ 
sult, and it was therefore only natural that 
at first man should have regarded his virile 
member as the direct and sole cause of 
both his pleasure and of his offspring; it 
was through it that the greatest of all 
things in nature was accomplished,—a 
wonderful and potent instrument, en¬ 
dowed apparently with independent life 
and activity, and possessed of a power 
transcending all others in greatness and 
mystery. 

It required a long time for mankind to 
reach that stage in which the mind was 
capable of formulating and grasping 
abstract notions ; of disassociating attri¬ 
butes and qualities from the objects in 
which they are manifested ; of compre¬ 
hending a power or an emotion without 
some tangible, suggestive symbol; and 
so it was that the male organ of genera- 


THE CREATOR. 


47 


tion, the phallus , was regarded as the 
incarnate source of being,—as the em¬ 
bodiment of the creative power,—and 
came to be looked upon and adored as 
the Author of Life. 

In accordance with the instincts of 
humanity, this supremely marvelous and 
potent object, appealing to the awe and 
wonder of mankind, was exalted and 
worshiped ; worshiped not only as the 
creator of human life, but as the personi¬ 
fication or symbol of the world’s creator; 
for, in common with all other manifesta¬ 
tions of nature, the creative force was 
deified ; it was ascribed to a superhuman 
personality, an omnipotent god, who was 
the Creator, the Father, of all things, and 
hence the supreme deity. His power 
was necessarily almighty ; it was he who 
controlled life and procreation, and the 
phallus was the incarnation of his power 
for the accomplishment of life’s great pur¬ 
pose. 

When we consider the vital importance 
attached to the begetting of children, in 




48 


SEX WORSHIP. 


ancient times, we can more readily com¬ 
prehend the veneration felt for the organ 
of generation as their creator; as the 
divine instrumentality through which a 
man’s and woman’s life duty was fulfilled. 
Barrenness was not only an affliction, but 
a curse. To be childless was to a woman 
worse than death. It was the supreme 
religious duty of every woman to bear 
children and perpetuate the seed of man¬ 
kind, and it was at the same time the 
highest ambition of every man to beget 
sons and daughters. Of this we have 
ample evidence in the Scriptures and 
other ancient records. 

We are told, for example, how earnestly 
Abraham and Sarah longed for a child, 
and that in their extremity “ Sarai said 
unto Abram, Behold now the Lord hath 
restrained me from bearing; I pray thee go 
in unto my maid ; it may be that I may ob¬ 
tain children by her. And Abram heark¬ 
ened to the voice of Sarai ” (Gen. 16 : 2). 

So, also in the thirtieth chapter of 
Genesis, we read of the despair of Rachel 


THE CREATOR. 


49 


at her barrenness—“ And when Rachel 
saw that she bare Jacob no children, Rachel 
envied her sister; and said unto Jacob, 
Give me children, or else I die ! ” and she, 
too, as a last resort, gave her maid to her 
husband, in order to thus in a measure 
palliate her affliction. And, again, in 
the first chapter of I. Samuel, we learn of 
the misery endured by Hannah, “ because 
the Lord had shut up her womb. And 
she was in bitterness of soul, and prayed 
unto the Lord, and wept sore.” 

To die a virgin, as Jephthah’s daughter 
was obliged to do, as the result of her fa¬ 
ther’s rash vow,—to die without having 
borne children,—was an awful punishment 
and curse in the eyes of the ancient world. 
Rather than submit to the possibility of 
such a fate women would resort to deceit, 
treachery and crime, as justifiable under 
the circumstances; as we see in the case 
of Tamar, who deceived her father-in-law,* 
and in the story of Lot’s daughters, who 
committed incest with their father, while 
* Gen. 38 : 13-26. 


20 


50 


SEX WORSHIP. 


dwelling in their secluded abode in the 
mountain, “ because there is not a man in 
the earth to come in unto us after the 
manner of all the earth ; ” and, according 
to the account as related in the nineteenth 
chapter of Genesis, they accomplished 
their purpose through imposition and 
strategy. 

In short, the begetting of children was 
the highest and holiest aim in life, the sole 
purpose of human existence; an ancient 
belief which is so abundantly demon¬ 
strated in the old Testament, and so well 
known, as scarcely to require particular 
mention here. 

Naturally, the woman, as well as the 
man, looked to the Creator as the supreme 
source of worldly happiness and comfort. 
Through him alone could be obtained the 
greatest of all blessings and the accom¬ 
plishment of life’s purpose ; and it was to 
him, therefore, that the woman prayed for 
children, even as the woman of to-day 
prays to God for a similar blessing. But 
to the woman of the past the Creator was 


THE CREATOR. 


51 


not an abstract, impersonal, undefinable 
being. To her he was a substantial ac¬ 
tuality, existing for a specific and well- 
defined purpose; closely and definitely 
associated with the object of her prayers. 
He was directly and personally concerned 
in the act of generation, the sole and 
supreme purpose for which he had brought 
mankind into the world. It was the Creator 
himself who came to her, through the 
medium of the man. The phallus was his 
divine personality, his actual presence in 
material form and potent activity. 

That this was the idea entertained of 
the Creator in ancient times, is shown by 
such expressions as we find, for example, 
in the twenty-first chapter of Genesis 
(relating to the conception and birth of 
Isaac) : “ And the Lord visited Sarah as 

he had said, and the Lord did unto Sarah 
as he had spoken. For Sarah conceived, 
and bare Abraham a son in his old age.” 

So, also, we are told that “ God remem¬ 
bered Rachel, and God hearkened to her, 
and opened her womb.” (Gen. 30: 22.) 



52 


SEX WORSHIP. 


And, again, it is related that “ the Lord 
visited Hannah, so that she conceived, 
and bare three sons and two daughters.” 
(I Sam. 2: 21.) 

That the husband was considered as 
simply the instrument of God, is further 
significantly demonstrated in the related 
fact, that Jacob resented his wife’s plea to 
him for children: ‘‘And Jacob’s anger 
was kindled against Rachel: and he said, 
Am I in God’s stead who hath withheld 
from thee the fruit of the womb? ” (Gen. 
30:2.) 

It is evident, therefore, that the idea 
of the Creator was very closely associated 
with what his name specifically signifies. 
The phallus was his most sacred emblem 
or representative, and, according to the 
Old Testament, it is clearly shown that 
the God of the Hebrews so regarded it 
himself ; for he ordained that it should be 
specially marked, and should thus con¬ 
stitute the sacred token of the contract 
between himself and his chosen people, 
and to this day the rite of circumcision is 


THE CREATOR. 


53 


practised by the Jews, in accordance with 
this command, which Jehovah gave to 
Abraham, the father of the Israelites, nine¬ 
teen hundred years before Christ: “ And 
God said unto Abraham. . . This is my 
covenant, which ye shall keep between 
me and you and thy seed after thee ; every 
man child among you shall be circumcised. 
And ye shall circumcise the flesh of your 
foreskin ; and it shall be a token of the cov¬ 
enant betwixt me and you. . . He that is 
born in thy house, and he that is bought 
with thy money, must needs be circum¬ 
cised : and my covenant shall be in your 
flesh for an everlasting covenant.” (Gen. 
17= 10-14.) 

In the fifth chapter of Joshua we are 
told that the Lord said unto Joshua, 
“ Make thee sharp knives, and circumcise 
again the children of Israel a second time.” 
And when all the people had been circum¬ 
cised, “ the Lord said unto Joshua, This 
day have I rolled away the reproach of 
Egypt from off you.” 

From this it is apparent that circumci- 


54 


SEX WORSHIP. 


sion was not only a token of sanctification, 
but of salvation as well, and the eminent 
importance attached to it by the Al¬ 
mighty is attested by numerous passages 
in the Bible; being very forcibly shown 
by the statement, to be found in the fourth 
chapter of Exodus, that the Lord was on 
the point of killing Moses, because he had 
neglected to circumcise one of his sons, 
and was only saved by the timely interven¬ 
tion of his wife, Zipporah, who “ took a 
sharp stone, and cut off the foreskin of her 
son.” 

That the virile member was considered 
as specially sacred to the Creator, either 
as his symbol or as the instrument by 
which his divine power was fulfilled, is 
universally evidenced in all the ancient 
faiths and customs. In addition to the 
right of circumcision, just mentioned, the 
Old Testament affords numerous examples 
of the holiness attached to this symbol. 
It was a common custom among the 
Hebrews, when taking a solemn oath, to 
lay the hands upon the generative organ of 


THE CREATOR. 


55 


the person to whom the vow or promise 
was given. This was as solemn and de¬ 
vout a procedure as is the present method 
of kissing the Bible or holding up the right 
hand, and was indicative of the same mean¬ 
ing—that of calling upon God to wit¬ 
ness the truth and sincerity of the oath. 

This custom is referred to in the 24th 
chapter of Genesis, where we are told that 
“Abraham said unto his eldest servant, 
. . . Put, I pray thee, thy hand under my 
thigh: and I will make thee swear by the 
Lord, the God of Heaven and the God 
of the earth, etc.,” and again, in the 47th 
chapter of the same book, it is recorded that 
when Jacob was about to die he called 
Joseph to him, and bade him put his hand 
under his thigh, and promise that he would 
not bury him in Egypt. This practice is 
still to be found in certain parts of Arabia 
and Africa, and various customs of a like 
character might be cited, in further evi¬ 
dence of the sacred relationship supposed 
to exist between the organ of generation 
and the Creator. It was through it that 


SEX WORSHIP. 


56 

the Creator manifested his supreme power, 
and hence it was an object of reverence 
and worship, even as was the Creator 
himself. 

In many instances prayers were de¬ 
voutly offered to the symbol, in the be¬ 
lief that God was thereby being addressed, 
and the primitive belief in the actual pres¬ 
ence of the Creator, in the generative act, 
is again shown by the ancient religious 
practice of women submitting themselves 
to the embraces of the priests as the rep¬ 
resentatives of God. This practice was 
not an unusual one, and was resorted to 
especially by barren women, in the devout 
belief that by this means they secured 
divine intercourse with their god, or the 
procreative deity, and thereby rendered 
certain their chances for bearing children. 

This custom is still practised in I ndia. 
and it is not uncommon for a husband to 
accompany his wife to the priest, and re¬ 
main a reverential spectator of the act 
representing the union of God and the 
woman. In various parts of India certain 


THE CREATOR. 


57 


days are set apart in each year for the 
visitation of the creative deity, on which 
occasions the women repair to the temples 
and there receive from the priests the 
sacred blessing that they are unable to 
obtain from the Creator through the me¬ 
dium of their husbands. 

Next in importance to procreation itself, 
is the cause that determines the sex of the 
offspring. Why should a man beget a 
son at onetime and a daughter at another? 
What is the reason for this sexual differ¬ 
ence? This is the question we are vainly 
asking ourselves to-day, and is the same 
question that bothered the minds of men 
in the past ages. Naturally, an explana¬ 
tion was looked for in some characteristic 
of the phallus, as the responsible creator ; 
and while this did not lead to a definite 
solution of the mystery, it resulted in the 
important discovery that the appendages 
of the organ play an important and neces¬ 
sary part in the act of creation, and the 
supposed difference in their relative size 
and position gave rise to the theory,— 


58 


SEX WORSHIP. 


which is held by many at the present day, 
—that the right testicle is the producer 
of the stronger sex, while the left or 
smaller one is responsible for the women 
of the world. That this belief was gener¬ 
ally entertained by the ancients, is evi¬ 
denced by the allusions to it in the early 
records, including the Old Testament, 
where fathers refer to their sons as the 
children of their right side. 



It became evident, therefore, that 


perfect creator consisted of three parts, 
each distinct and complete in itself, but so 
dependent one upon the other for the ful¬ 
fillment of their office, that it was only in 
their unity and co-operation that they 
were capable of productive activity as an 
absolute and perfect One. 

From this it is not difficult to under¬ 
stand how the creative deity came to be 
regarded as a triune being, nor should it 
be surprising to learn, therefore, that the 
worship of a trinity dates back to the 
dimmest and most remote past. The 
Assyrians, one of the most ancient nations 



THE CREATOR. 


59 


of the world, worshiped a trinity known 
as Asshur, Anu and Hoa, and upon a 
study of the derivation of these names 
we find that they refer directly to the 
triune generative organ. Asshur repre¬ 
sents the phallus, for the name plainly 
signifies the erect one, the upright member. 
The right testicle, which, as the assistant 
in the production of male children, was 
held next in rank to the phallus itself, is 
represented by Anu, a name derived from 
the word meaning strength, particularly 
manly strength or power, while Hoa, the 
third member of the trinity, has reference 
to the feminine element. 

In this, as in all subsequent trinities of 
theology, the individuals composing it 
were of relative rank ; three distinct enti¬ 
ties or members, each necessary to the 
other, working together as one toward one 
end. As a whole they constituted the 
supreme god, the Creator, under the col¬ 
lective name of Bel. While the custom 
of giving to a trinity a name distinct from 
any of its component individuals, is a com- 


6o 


SEX WORSHIP. 


mon one in all religions, it is not gener¬ 
ally observed, for, as a rule, the Trinity, 
or complete Creator, is known under the 
name of the first in rank,—as Asshur, the 
Lord of Lords. 

We find, therefore, that the triune com¬ 
position of the masculine creator was 
early recognized, and the veneration in 
which the complete and perfect male or¬ 
gan was held, is most clearly shown by the 
fact that it was the subject of religious or¬ 
dinances. Of this we find ample demon¬ 
stration in the Old Testament, where, for 
example, in the book of Deuteronomy, 
we learn that Jehovah himself ordained, 
that “ he that is wounded in the stones, 
or hath his privy member cut off, shall not 
enter the congregation of the Lord; ”* 
plainly indicating the divine importance 
attached to the perfect condition of this 
symbol of the Creator. 

This holy regard for the soundness and 
at the same time for the safety of the gen¬ 
erative organ, is perhaps more fully shown 
* Deut. 23 : 1. 


THE CREATOR. 


61 


in the 25th chapter of the same book, 
where it is commanded by the Lord, that 
a woman shall have her hand cut off if she 
takes hold of her husband by the genitals, 
even though it be in a case of extremity 
for the purpose of delivering him from an 
enemy. 

It must not be supposed, however, that 
this religious reverence for perfect mascu¬ 
linity is confined to the past, for at the 
present day one who is sexually mutilated, 
and therefore not “ a man,” cannot be con¬ 
secrated as a priest nor promoted to a 
bishopric ; much less, exalted to the pa¬ 
pal throne. 

This requirement, that religious teach¬ 
ers and leaders shall possess a generative 
organism perfect in form and function, is 
a very general one, and always has been. 
We are told that fifteen hundred years be¬ 
fore Christ the Lord expressly forbade a 
priest to practise his vocation if his mas¬ 
culinity was impaired (Lev. 21: 20). 

A eunuch or impotent man has always 
been a despised and accursed creature, 


62 


SEX WORSHIP. 


scorned alike by man and God. In olden 
times castration was regarded as a punish¬ 
ment far worse than that of death ; a fate 
that degraded a man below the level of 
the meanest and lowest brute. The more 
virile a man was, the greater was the re¬ 
spect he inspired ; and the veneration paid 
to a god was always proportionate to the 
sexual abilities ascribed to him. Such 
deities as were held to be more strongly 
endowed with virility, and whose office 
pertained more directly to the procreative 
functions, were honored above their fellow 
gods, and thus it is that the Creator, the 
almighty and everlasting Producer, has 
ever been the supreme god. His creative 
powers are unlimited ; hence, he is the 
ruler, the master of all other gods and of 
men. 


CHAPTER III. 


THE PHALLUS. 

The worship of the phallus, the mas-' 
culine symbol of creation, dates back into 
the hidden and unknown ages of the past. 
The earliest records of the Egyptiansand 
the Hindoos refer to phallic worship as an 
old-established institution, showing that 
thousands of years before the Christian 
era it had already given rise to elaborate 
systems of theology. All of these re-J 
ligions had for their dominant object the 
worship of the procreative powers of na¬ 
ture, as symbolized by the generative 
organs, which were represented in images 
and emblems of the greatest diversity and 
variety. 

Prominent among these representations 
was the phallus, which, in its stricter sense, 
has reference more to the image of the 

63 



64 


SEX WORSHIP. 


male organ than to the organ itself. These 
images, in exact representation of the 
masculine member, were very common 
among the ancients. They were made in 
every conceivable variety of form and 
size, many of them being molded in plas¬ 
tic material, and others carved from wood, 
stone and ivory. Sometimes they rep¬ 
resented the organ in its passive state, in 
which form it was generally of diminutive 
size, and worn as an amulet by the women. 
Such amulets are still common among 
the phallic worshipers of India , many of 
them being of minute size and made of 
gold, silver, ivory, crystal or sacred wood. 
These are worn upon the arm or breast 
and in the turban. 

The most common form of these phal¬ 
lic images, however, was the realistic rep¬ 
resentation of the phallus' in its upright 
position, in which shape it was regarded 
as more clearly exhibiting the divine at¬ 
tribute of the Creator. When used as 
household idols these images were about 
life-size, but those employed in religious 


THE PHALLUS. 


65 

festivals and in the temples were much 
exaggerated, reaching sometimes to a 
height of twenty or thirty feet, with cor¬ 
responding proportions throughout. 

Many of the Greek and Roman tem¬ 
ples, in common with those of other na¬ 
tions, were especially dedicated to the 
phallus, which occupied the most prom¬ 
inent and holy part of the sacred edifice, 
and received the worship and adoration 
of the devotees, who presented it with of¬ 
ferings of flowers and wine, and prayed to 
it, as the hallowed representative of the 
Creator. 

This image was a prominent feature in 
the Ba cchanalia and other springtime 
festivals of the Greeks and Romans, in 
celebration of the regeneration of life. 
On these occasions the women repaired to 
the temples of this idol, and there per¬ 
formed the mysteries connected with 
its worship, as the representative of the 
Divine Regenerator; singing the while 
hymns of praise to the deity, and anoint¬ 
ing the sacred phallus with consecrated 
5 


66 


SEX WORSHIP. 


wine, besides wreathing it with flowers 
and presenting offerings of various kinds. 

The Roman Liberalia, which were held 
in March, were a festive though religious 
celebration in honor of Liber, another title 
of Bacchus, the god of generative power. 
This was an occasion of general rejoicing, 
and was not confined to a particular place 
or set of worshipers, as in the case of the 
Bacchanalian mysteries, but was observed 
by the people in all parts of Italy and the 
Roman provinces. 

The phallus, as the symbol of Bacchus, 
played an important part in these festivi¬ 
ties. In many places this emblem of re¬ 
generated life was placed in a chariot, and, 
covered with flowers and attended by a 
merry crowd of men, women and children, 
was drawn about the fields, along the 
highways and through the towns, amid 
the rejoicings and acclamations of the 
people. 

In some of the towns and cities, a mag¬ 
nificent car bearing an enormous phallus, 
gaily decorated, was slowly drawn through 


THE PHALLUS. 


67 

the streets, accompanied by a great proces¬ 
sion of people, and in this manner was 
borne to the center of the forum, where it 
came to a halt. The most respected ma¬ 
tron of the town, as worthy of the post of 
honor, then advanced amid the joyous 
shouts of the populace, and crowned the 
symbol of the deity with a wreath of ivy. 

The festival of Venus, the goddess of 
love and regeneration, was celebrated by 
the Roman women at the same time, or 
soon after, the Liberalia. This celebra¬ 
tion was attended with rejoicings and 
merry-making, and a general relaxation of 
the strict rules of feminine decorum. In 
the formal ceremonies of the occasion the 
ladies proceeded in state to the Quirinal r 
the hill of Romulus, where stood the tem¬ 
ple containing the sacred phallus. This 
holy emblem was taken possession of by 
the women, who then formed in proces¬ 
sion and reverently escorted it to the 
temple of Venus, where they presented it 
to that goddess amid elaborate and joyful 
rites. 


68 


SEX WORSHIP. 


This ceremony is illustrated by a de¬ 
sign on an old Roman gem, which shows 
a triumphal chariot bearing an altar, upon 
which rests a colossal phallus. A female 
figure hovers over this symbol, holding a 
crown of flowers above it. The chariot, 
which is under a richly decorated canopy 
supported by four semi-nude women, is 
drawn by bulls and goats, which are ridden 
by winged children and preceded by a 
band of women blowing trumpets. At 
the destination of the procession is a rep¬ 
resentation of a vulva upheld by two 
genii. 

When the celebration was completed, 
after placing the two emblems in con¬ 
junction, the phallus was devoutly carried 
back to its temple. 

Smaller images of the phallus were fre¬ 
quently set up by the roadside, in front 
of the doors of dwellings, and beneath the 
trees in sacred groves and woods. The 
spot on which this holy emblem stood 
was regarded as hallowed ground, and the 
images received the same pious reverence 


THE PHALLUS. 69 

and adoration as is to-day paid to the 
symbols of Christianity. 

No doubt, many of the devotees re¬ 
garded the phallus as the deity itself, 
even as is the case with many to-day, who 
pray to the image of the Virgin or the 
crucified Savior, yet their devotion and 
piety were none the less deep and sin¬ 
cere. The woman who knelt before the 
consecrated image of the masculine crea¬ 
tive power, and prayed for the blessing 
of children, was as earnest and modest as 
is the Christian woman of this day who 
invokes a similar boon from the holy 
Virgin or the Father. 

The chances for securing fruitfulness 
were considered better if the prayer was 
offered while in contact with the image, 
and for this reason it was customary for 
the suppliants to bare themselves and sit 
upon the phallus while praying. 

This rite is still practised in certain 
parts of the world, by girls and women of 
all ages and stations, for the purpose of 
invoking divine aid. In oriental villages 


7 o 


SEX WORSHIP. 


it is common to see two stones—one, flat 
and circular, the other, small, smooth and 
upright—standing near together in some 
secluded nook or grove. The suppliant 
steps upon the circular stone, adjusts her 
drapery, and, seating herself upon the 
upright stone, repeats a short prayer and 
calls upon her god for some desired bless¬ 
ing. 

A writer, who was long a sojourner in 
India, relates that “ Many a day have I 
sat at early dawn in the door of my tent, 
pitched in a sacred grove, and gazed at 
the little group of females stealthily 
emerge from the adjoining, half-sleeping 
village, each with a garland or bunch of 
flowers, and, when none were thought to 
see, accompany their prayer for pooli- 
palam (child-fruit) with a respectful ab¬ 
rasion of a certain part of their person on 
a phallus.” 

By reason of its sacredness the phallus 
was considered a charm against evil spirits, 
and it is occasionally found in ancient 
tombs, where it was placed to guard the 


THE PHALLUS. 


7 1 


dead tom the Evil One. A remarkable 
instance of this custom was discovered not 
long since in Egypt, where there was found 
at Thebes the mummy of a woman of 
rank, with whom there was buried the 
embalmed phallus of a bull. 

The use and worship of phallic images 
is referred to in the most ancient records. 
In the book of Genesis it is related, that 
when Jacob with his family and flocks left 
the house of Laban, his wife, Rachel, 
carried away with her Laban’s teraphim, 
which were small images of men, with the 
phallus constituting the prominent feature. 

The sacred importance attached to these 
images is shown by the fact that Laban 
went after Jacob, and, overtaking his son- 
in-law at the end of a seven-days’ journey, 
asked, “ Wherefore hast thou stolen my 
gods?” and Jacob, not knowing that his 
wife had taken them, told Laban that if 
he found the images on any one of his 
people, that person should be put to 
death. In order not to be discovered, 
Rachel sat upon the idols, “ and said to 


72 


SEX WORSHIP. 


her father, Let it not displease my lord 
that I cannot rise before thee; for the 
custom of women is upon me. And he 
searched, but found not the images.” 
(Gen. 31 : 30-35.) 

Again, in the book of Judges we learn 
that Micah made some of these images for 
himself, and that the Danites took them 
from him and worshiped them ; * and in 
the first book of Kings is an account of 
Maachah, who was “ removed from being 
queen, because she had made an idol in a 
grove ” (15 : 13). 

In fact, the Old Testament contains 
numerous references to images and idols 
of this character ; nor must it be supposed 
that the use of such emblems is peculiar 
to the remote past ; for, as will be pres¬ 
ently shown, they are abundantly general 
in India, and are common in other phallic- 
worshiping nations of this day; as in 
Dahomey, for example, where phallic fig¬ 
ures are prominent in the streets of every 
settlement. 

* Judges 17 : 5 ; 18 : 18-31. 


THE PHALLUS. 


7 3 


To within a very short time ago they 
figured prominently in the Christian festi¬ 
val of St. Cosmo and Damiano, at Isernia, 
in Italy ; on which occasion phallic images 
of wax were offered to the priest by the 
female devotees, accompanied by prayers 
for matrimonial and maternal bless¬ 
ings. 

A similar custom prevailed in certain 
parts of France, where these wax offerings 
were made to St. Foutin, the patron saint 
of virility; and as a further evidence of the 
existence of modified phallic worship, in 
connection with Christianity, it is author¬ 
itatively related, that at Orange, in the 
church of St. Eutropius, was a phallus 
made of wood and covered with leather, 
which was highly venerated by the in¬ 
habitants of the town, as a symbol of 
the saint, whose aid was sought in all 
matters pertaining to the generative func¬ 
tions. 

The phallus was frequently pictured on 
coins, in sculpture and upon vases and 
other articles, as may be seen in the re- 


74 


SEX WORSHIP. 


mains that have been found, not only in 
the ancient cities, but in those of more 
modern times. Bas-reliefs from some of 
the old buildings in France show singular 
varieties of the phallus, some of them 
double and triple and provided with wings, 
claws, beaks, etc. One is bridled and 
ridden by a sprite, another is shown re¬ 
ceiving the adoration of female devotees, 
while still another is depicted standing on 
human legs. These, as well as those 
pictured on lamps and vases used for sacer¬ 
dotal purposes, were designed as symboli¬ 
cal of religious ideas. 

Numerous examples of phallic statuary, 
and of phallic-figured vases and dishes, 
have been found in Rome and other 
Italian cities ; particularly among the ruins 
of Pompeii and Herculaneum. In the 
museum at Portici, for example, on the 
cover of an ancient vase that had been 
used for sacred purposes, is a large phallus, 
which is being embraced by a woman; 
while another vase shows a dealer in phalli 
offering a basketful of his wares to a group 


THE PHALLUS. 


7 5 


of women. Though the religious signifi¬ 
cance of such designs is scarcely appre¬ 
ciated at this day, the very fact that they 
were depicted on articles used in the 
sanctuaries, is evidence of the sacred mean¬ 
ing originally attached to them. 

Under its Hindu name of ling am the 
phallus is still universally used as a religious 
symbol throughout India, where phallic 
worship has flourished unabated for thou¬ 
sands of years. The lingam is the divine 
symbol of Siva, the Reproducer, the third 
member of the Hindu creative trinity, and 
is to be found in every temple dedicated 
to his worship. It is generally in the sanc¬ 
tum, or holy of holies, and garlanded with 
flowers or adorned with other offerings. 
These lingams are made of granite, marble, 
ivory and precious wood, and are gener¬ 
ally of very large size, some reaching to 
the enormous height of forty feet, and 
measuring twenty-five feet in circumfer¬ 
ence. 

The temples of the lingam are to be 
seen in great numbers on the banks of the 


;6 


SEX WORSHIP. 


Ganges, especially in the neighborhood of 
Calcutta. Their presence near the river 
invests them with greater sanctity than if 
built in the interior of the country, the 
river being considered particularly sacred. 
Connected with nearly every one of these 
temples, is a small house, open in front, for 
the accommodation of the devotees who 
come there to die in sight of the river. 
The temples occur in groups of eight or 
ten, while at some places as many as a 
hundred are located within short range of 
one another. 

The priests connected with these tem¬ 
ples are sworn to the strictest chastity; 
and, as they are nude while officiating, 
any carnal excitement of the imagina¬ 
tion would manifest itself in the external 
organs, and would result in the summary 
stoning of the unfaithful priest. 

While the lingams in the temples are 
of gigantic proportions, those used for 
domestic worship are but a few inches in 
height; and, as before stated, this em¬ 
blem in diminutive size is worn as an 


THE PHALLUS. 


77 


amulet or charm, and is used by the 
Hindoos in prayer as the pious Catholic 
uses the symbol or image of his patron- 
saint. 

The worship of the lingam is an im¬ 
portant and necessary religious rite, and 
when fully and properly performed in 
accordance with the prescribed ritual, is 
a very elaborate ceremony, consisting of 
sixteen essential requisites, including a 
prefatory bath of purification by the 
worshiper, the bathing of the lingam with 
clarified butter, honey and the juice of 
sugar cane, the offering of flowers, incense, 
lamps, fruits and various kinds of pre¬ 
pared edibles, the repetition of prayers, 
and the walking about and bowing before 
the image. 

It is not necessary that this worship 
should take place in the temple, but may 
be performed in any purified place. It 
is considered most efficacious when per¬ 
formed on the bank of a holy river be¬ 
fore a lingam formed of clay. The Hin¬ 
doos of every caste and of both sexes 


SEX WORSHIP. 


78 

make images of this symbol with the 
clay of the Ganges, every morning after 
bathing, and worship before them ; bow¬ 
ing, presenting offerings, and repeating 
incantations. Upon the completion of 
the ceremony the image is thrown into 
the river. 

Every village has its public lingam, two 
or three feet in height, which is set up as 
a talisman, in the most conspicuous part 
of the town. Early in the morning may 
be seen the girls and women of the neigh¬ 
borhood sprinkling the emblem with water 
from the Ganges, decking it with garlands 
of flowers, and, while rubbing themselves 
against it, reciting the prescribed incanta¬ 
tions and entreating the deity to make 
them fruitful mothers. 

A common and more realistic symbol 
of the procreative power, was a statue or 
representation of the male figure, either 
entirely nude, or simply exhibiting the 
phallus, which was generally of unnatu¬ 
rally large size. To this day there are 
to be seen on the walls of the temples at 


THE PHALLUS. 


79 

Karnak and Thebes phallic designs of this 
character; illustrating how intimately the 
ideas of sexuality and religion were in¬ 
terwoven in the old Egyptian civiliza¬ 
tion. 

There are many figures of their gods 
and kings, showing them possessed of 
unusual and abundant virility. These 
pictures also represent the castration of 
captives, a common method of punish¬ 
ment among the ancients, who regarded 
the absence of sexual power as the most 
humiliating disgrace that could befall a 
man. The Egyptian god Osiris is very 
frequently depicted with large and promi¬ 
nent genitals, as a mark of his divine 
and supreme power, and images of him 
in this form were carried about in the 
processions connected with the religious 
festivals of the Egyptians. 

The Roman phallus-god Priapus, the 
deity of procreation, was always repre¬ 
sented by a figure of this kind; and as the 
Romans were ardent worshipers of Priapus, 
and introduced the worship among the 


8o 


SEX WORSHIP. 


peoples with whom they came in con¬ 
tact, images and statues of this kind are 
not rare in the various ancient towns of 
Italy and other parts of Europe. Roman 
coins, sculpturing, and engraved stones, 
or gems, abound in representations of 
Priapus, showing him in all forms and at¬ 
titudes ; sometimes alone, but frequently 
as the central figure in suggestive scenes 
or unequivocal sexual pastimes. 

These priapic images were objects of 
reverential worship, as realistic representa¬ 
tions of the creative deity, and were par¬ 
ticularly resorted to by women who desired 
maternal joys, and by newly married 
women, who were required to sacrifice 
their virginity to the deity through the 
medium of his holy image. 

So deep was the faith implanted in the 
common mind regarding the efficacy of 
prayers addressed to these statues of the 
creative deity, that the worship of them 
in certain parts of France continued down 
to within a comparatively recent time ; 
the only difference in the worship being 


THE PHALLUS. 


8l 


that the images were given the names of 
Christian saints, instead of their ancient 
pagan name of Priapus. 

At Bourg Dieu, near Bourges, the in¬ 
habitants of the town worshiped one of 
these statues that had existed from the 
time of the Romans. The monks, fearing 
to put an end to this old-established re¬ 
ligious practice, converted the ancient god 
into St. Greluchon, and barren women 
flocked to the abbey to implore the saint’s 
aid, and to celebrate a novena in his 
honor. The devotee would stretch her¬ 
self at full length on this figure, which was 
laid upon the floor, and would then scrape 
some particles from the phallus, and these 
particles in water were supposed to con¬ 
stitute a miraculous beverage. 

St. Giles, in Brittany, St. Ren6, in An¬ 
jou, and St. Regnaud and St. Arnaud were 
similarly worshiped ; though in the case of 
the latter a mystic apron usually shrouded 
the symbol of fecundity, and was only 
raised in favor of sterile devotees. Its 
mere inspection, if accompanied with true 
6 


82 


SEX WORSHIP. 


faith, was said to be sufficient to effect 
miracles. 

St. Foutin was one of the most popular 
of the saints to whom were ascribed 
the power of procreation. Statues to him 
were common in various parts of France, 
and he was the recipient of many prayers 
and offerings, for he was said to have not 
only the gift of relieving barren women, 
but of restoring exhausted vitality and 
curing secret diseases. His worship, 
therefore, was not confined to the female 
devotees, but was shared equally by the 
men, who would devoutly present to the 
priests, as offerings to the saint, wax im¬ 
ages of the affected parts, in the pious and 
sincere belief that by this holy means they 
would be cured. 

Among the remains of a church at Em- 
brun was found the phallus of a statue of 
this saint, which was stained a deep red, 
as the result of the custom of pouring wine 
upon it. The anointment of the image 
in this manner was a common practice, in 
connection with the worship of the saint; 


THE PHALLUS. 


83 


the wine thus used being caught in a jar 
and allowed to turn sour, when, under the 
name of “ holy vinegar,” it was drunk by 
the women, as an effective and infallible 
means of producing fertility. 


CHAPTER IV. 


PHALLIC EMBLEMS. 

While statues of Priapus and images 
of the phallus are found in great abundance 
in the remains of the ancient world, and 
while they were no doubt extensively used 
at all times, they cannot compare in num¬ 
bers and importance with the modified 
and conventional forms of the creative 
symbol that we find scattered all over the 
world, in endless numbers and variety, and 
unknowingly preserved by us to-day in 
our architecture, our symbols and our 
customs. Realistic representations of the 
masculine generative symbol became very 
readily modified into more formal shapes, 
which were adopted and retained, either 
for the sake of convenience, because they 
could be more easily made, or for the 
reason that they could be better adapted 
to certain ceremonial uses. 

84 


PHALLIC EMBLEMS. 


85 

Pre-eminent among this class of phallic 
emblems is the pillar . It is not difficult 
to understand how the large, upright 
phallus became modified into the con¬ 
ventional form of a pillar. In fact, many 
of the large phalli were really nothing 
more than pillars, and hence a plain pillar, 
either of wood or stone, was adopted as a 
symbol of the procreative power. It was 
easily, cheaply and readily constructed, 
and as its general form was plainly sug¬ 
gestive of the object it represented, it is 
not surprising that it became one of the 
most popular and most numerous of 
phallic emblems. 

Remains of stone pillars, as symbols of 
the Deity, are found in all parts of the 
world. They are numerous throughout 
Europe, the British Isles and America, 
while in Egypt and in India and other 
Asiatic countries, they abound in the 
greatest profusion. The marvelous Egyp¬ 
tian obelisks are nothing more nor less 
than large pillars, phallic emblems, erected 
in honor of the Creator and his divine at- 



86 


SEX WORSHIP. 


tribute. Indeed, all ancient structures of 
this kind—pillars, columns, obelisks and 
monuments—are of phallic significance, 
and owe their existence to religious mo¬ 
tives and the devout endeavor on the 
part of mankind to honor the Creator. 

The use of the pillar in one form or an¬ 
other was very extensive. Remains of 
this emblem in all parts of Europe and in 
England, Scotland and Ireland bear evi¬ 
dence of the fact that phallic worship was 
not confined to certain localities or peoples, 
but was common to all portions of the 
inhabited world, and played a dominant 
part in the religion of the Scandina¬ 
vians, the Teutons, the Saxons, the Celts, 
the Gauls, and the Britons, besides that 
of the Romans and the Greeks. To cata¬ 
logue and explain the monuments and 
remains of phallicism that have been found 
in Great Britain alone would require a 
large volume. 

Stone phalli in the form of pillars are 
common in the temples of China and 
Japan, and, in fact, among all the oriental 


PHALLIC EMBLEMS. 


87 


nations. Passing to the western hemi¬ 
sphere, we find that phallicism, as rep¬ 
resented by this emblem, was almost uni¬ 
versal among the primitive and prehistoric 
races of both continents. 

In Yucatan a phallic pillar stands in front 
of the door of every temple. In Peru have 
been found numerous examples of this sym¬ 
bol, together with ancient clay phalli, and 
water jars on which are figured gods and 
goddesses of procreation; their functions 
and attributes being prominently por¬ 
trayed. In the center of the great square 
of the temple of the sun at Cuzco the early 
European explorers found a stone idol, 
shaped like a sugar loaf and covered with 
gold leaf, which was the object of special 
veneration on the part of the populace; 
and in Brazil have been found similar in¬ 
dications of the primitive worship of the 
generative powers. 

In Polynesia pillars are made of straw, 
a custom which is also practised in India, 
especially in harvest time, when pillars, 
and human figures exhibiting both sexes 


88 


SEX WORSHIP. 


very conspicuously, are made and set up 
in the fields, as objects of adoration and 
worship. 

In ancient times stone pillars were 
erected at the cross roads, at boundaries, 
in the market-places, before the doors of 
houses, and in the temples and churches, 
as the presence of this holy emblem was 
supposed to consecrate the place in which 
it stood, and to guard it against evil 
spirits. For a similar reason stone pillars 
and shafts (symbols of the guardian Crea¬ 
tor) were placed upon graves,—a practice 
that has been retained to this day in the 
civilized world ; for do we not continue 
to mark the resting-places of our departed 
ones with monuments and columns and 
other upright stones? 

We have ample proof in the Bible that 
the pillar was regarded as a sacred em¬ 
blem of the Creator, for it will be remem¬ 
bered that the setting up of a pillar as a 
witness to the Lord was a common prac¬ 
tice among the Hebrews, and that it was 
always an occasion of reverential cere- 


PHALLIC EMBLEMS. 


89 

monies. “ In that day there shall be an 
altar to the Lord in the midst of the land 
of Egypt, and a pillar at the border there¬ 
of to the Lord; and it shall be for a sign 
and for a witness unto the Lord.” (Isaiah 
19 : 19.) 

Those acquainted with the Old Testa¬ 
ment cannot but be impressed with the 
sacredness attached to pillars, and the nu¬ 
merous instances in which they are men¬ 
tioned in connection with the Lord, either 
as emblems of the Creator or as witnesses 
to him. They are frequently referred to 
as altars and rocks , which, as will pres¬ 
ently be shown, are but modified forms 
of the pillar, and equally significant. 

Jacob set up a pillar, and poured oil 
upon it, calling the place Bethel—the 
house of God : “And this stone, which I 
have set for a pillar, shall be God’s house.” 
(Gen. 28 : 18-22.) When his wife, Rachel, 
died, he placed a pillar on her grave, in 
accordance with the custom previously 
mentioned; and on another occasion, as 
we are told in Genesis 35 : 14, he set up a 


9 o 


SEX WORSHIP. 


pillar in testimony of God, “ and he poured 
a drink-offering thereon, and he poured 
oil thereon.” This was a common method 
of anointing the phallus, and was prac¬ 
tised by the people of all nations, when 
making offerings to the creative deity, 
who was frequently supposed to actually 
reside in the pillar itself; hence, the sig¬ 
nificance of the term Bethel , as applied to 
this symbol. 

We find, also, that Joshua, when about 
to die, took a great stone and set it up 
under an oak that was near the sanctuary 
of the Lord. “And Joshua said unto all 
the people, Behold, this stone shall be a 
witness unto us ; for it hath heard all the 
words of the Lord which he spake unto 
us: it shall be therefore a witness unto 
you, lest ye deny your God.” (Joshua 
24: 27.) 

The Lord looked upon the Egyptians 
through a pillar of fire ; he led the Israel¬ 
ites by pillars of cloud and fire, and he 
appeared to them in the form of a pillar 
—records that are all illustrative of the 


PHALLIC EMBLEMS. 


91 

divine significance of this emblem. “ And 
it came to pass, as Moses entered into the 
tabernacle, the cloudy pillar descended, 
and stood at the door of the tabernacle, 
and the Lord talked with Moses. And 
all the people saw the cloudy pillar stand 
at the tabernacle door ; and all the people 
rose up and worshiped, every man in his 
tent door.” (Ex. 33 : 9, 10.) 

As the vast majority of pillars were 
made of stone, or consisted simply of un¬ 
hewn rocks set up on end, it is not diffi¬ 
cult to perceive how the rock and the 
pillar became interchangeable terms ; the 
one as symbolical and significant as the 
other. By an extension of the analogy, 
mere stones, without any particular like¬ 
ness to pillars, became emblematical of 
the Creator, especially when piled in a 
heap ; such stone heaps being a very com¬ 
mon form of the phallic symbol. In the 
thirty-first chapter of Genesis we read, 
that “ Jacob took a stone and set it up 
for a pillar, and Jacob said unto his 
brethren, Gather stones; and they took 


9 2 


SEX WORSHIP. 


stones and made an heap. And Laban 
said to Jacob, Behold this heap, and be¬ 
hold this pillar. This heap be a witness 
and this pillar be a witness,” etc. 

Not only were these emblems recog¬ 
nized and employed as significant of the 
Creator, but the Lord himself is frequently 
alluded to as a Rock, showing conclu¬ 
sively the sacred meaning attached to this 
symbol. 

David very often refers to God under 
the title of Rock : “ The Rock of Israel 
spake to me ” (2 Sam. 23 : 3). “ The 

Lord is my rock ” (Ps. 18:2). “ For who 
is God save the Lord ? And who is a 
rock save our God ? ” (Ps. 18:31). “Unto 
Thee will I cry, O Lord my rock ! ” (Ps. 
28 : 1). 

Moses, too, several times uses this em¬ 
blematical term when referring to the 
Lord ; its phallic significance being espe¬ 
cially clear, when he says, “ Of the Rock 
that begat thee thou art unmindful, and 
hast forgotten God that formed thee ” 
(Deut. 32: 18). Equally clear is the ex- 


PHALLIC EMBLEMS. 


93 


pression of Hannah, who, in her song of 
thanksgiving to the Lord for having given 
her a child, says : “Neither is there any 
rock like our God ” (I Sam. 2 : 2). 

In many instances the Hebrew word 
for rock is translated strength, mighty one , 
or God ; as we find, for example, in Isaiah 
26 : 4 : “ Trust ye the Lord forever : for 

in the Lord Jehovah is everlasting 
strength ,” which, if properly translated, 
would read, the rock of ages* 

While, on the one hand, the rock was a 
simplification of the pillar, on the other 
hand, the altar was an elaboration of this 
symbol ; a change that resulted from the 
practice of making offerings to the phallus 
or pillar. In the desire to place the offer¬ 
ings upon the sacred symbol, its form was 
gradually modified so as to better accom¬ 
modate them, and the result was the 
altar ; an object still regarded with holy 
reverence, and still forming the principal 
feature of every shrine and place of wor¬ 
ship. 

* See Isaiah 30 : 29; 44: 8; Hab. 1 : 2. 


94 


SEX WORSHIP. 


As in the case of the altar, so the pil¬ 
lar became modified in various other ways, 
one of which resulted in giving to th epole 
a sacred and phallic significance. In fact, 
our word pol e is derived from phallus , 
which is itself a derivative of the Pheni- 
cian word meaning “ he breaks through 



or passes into.’' The modern 


fest ivities are simply a continuation of 
some ancient phallic celebration, in which 
the pole, as a symbol of the reproductive 
powers, was decorated with flowers, while 
the worshipers danced about it, singing 
songs of joy and praise. ^ 

The principal outgrowth of the pillar 
was the tower. In truth, this symbol was 
but a further enlargement and elaboration 
of the phallus image. In addition to con¬ 
secrating a temple of worship by placing 
within it a symbol of the Deity, the tem¬ 
ple itself was built in the shape of the 
symbol, as far as possible, and this resulted 
in the erection of towers; remains of 
which are still to be seen in various parts 
of the world, especially in Great Britain. 



PHALLIC EMBLEMS. 


95 


They were built of stone, and, because of 
their circular shape, are to-day known as 
“ Round Towers,” the most noteworthy 
examples of which are those found in Ire¬ 
land, where these ancient phallic struct¬ 
ures abound in great numbers, having 
been built by sex-worshiping refugees from 
ancient Persia. These towers vary in 
height from fifty to one hundred and fifty 
feet, measuring about fourteen feet in 
diameter at the base, and decreasing grad¬ 
ually toward the top. Some are sur¬ 
mounted with a conical-shaped roof, while 
others terminate in a point, and thus re¬ 
semble huge steeples standing alone. But 
in all their variety of forms, the sugges¬ 
tiveness of their design is always appar¬ 
ent. 

We have every evidence that such phal¬ 
lic towers were common in all parts of the 
ancient world ; but in course of time these 
necessarily circumscribed edifices gave 
place to more commodious forms of archi¬ 
tecture, though the tower, in some one of 
its various forms, was always retained as 


SEX WORSHIP. 


96 

the principal and consecratory feature of 
a religious building ; and to this day, 
throughout all Christendom, the houses 
of religious worship are distinguished in 
this manner. 

A church is not considered complete 
without its steeple or tower, but little is 
it realized that this important and distin¬ 
guishing feature of church architecture is 
a relic of the primitive symbol of the Crea¬ 
tor, and that its original function was to 
hallow the place in which the deity of 
procreation was worshiped. In no ancient 
city could the phallic symbols of the Al¬ 
mighty have been more prominently and 
widely displayed than they are to-day in 
every Christian town, with its multitude 
of lofty steeples and spires towering above 
the housetops in glorious, though uncon¬ 
scious, symbolization of the Creator. 

Many other artificial and conventional 
emblems used in ancient times for the rep¬ 
resentation of the procreative deity might 
be cited—as the arrow, the shepherd’s 
crook, the three-pointed wand, which has 


PHALLIC EMBLEMS. 


97 


become the fleur-de-lis of modern times, 
and a great many more ;—but they are of 
minor importance compared with the pil¬ 
lar and the tower, and with the numerous 
natural objects that were chosen as phallic 
symbols, by reason of some supposed re¬ 
semblance or relation to the phallus, in 
its looks, character or attributes. Thus, 
any high rock, or mount, or other tower¬ 
ing elevation, was vested with sacred sig¬ 
nificance, and ancient history abounds 
with references to “ holy mounts,” or 
“ mounts of God.” 

Trees, too, were regarded as sacred em¬ 
blems of the Creator and his attributes. 
Some, like the pine and the fir, because of 
their straightness and uprightness; others, 
like the oak, because of their strength and 
vitality ; and others, again, like thejigand 
the palm, because of the shape of their 
leaves or the venereal effect of their fruit. 
Hence, we find that tree worship, as a mode 
of phallicism, flourished very extensively 
in the early history of the world ; the wor¬ 
ship of the oak by the Druids being a famil- 
7 


9 8 


SEX WORSHIP. 


iar example, and all early records contain 
allusions to certain kinds of trees and 
fruits as possessed of particular religious 
or phallic significance. 

Various animals were likewise adopted 
as suggestive symbols of the male creative 
energy, particularly those of unusual sex¬ 
ual power. The coc k, the goat and the 
bull, figure very largely in phallic worship, 
as worthy representatives of the procre¬ 
ative god ; the goat and the bull being es¬ 
pecially sacred to the Egyptians, who 
looked upon these animals as not only the 
living symbols of Osiris, the Creator, but as 
his actual incarnations, and they were ac¬ 
cordingly treated and worshiped as veri¬ 
table deities. The sacred bull, as an incar¬ 
nation of the procreative power of nature, 
is a feature of many of the Hindoo 
temples, where the animal is waited upon 
and adored with due reverence and so¬ 
lemnity. 

The goat is, perhaps, the most salacious 
of all animals ; his inexhaustible appetite 
and virility enabling him to mate with as 


PHALLIC EMBLEMS. 


99 


many as eighty ewes in a single night. 
It is, therefore, not surprising that he 
should have been chosen as a specially 
sacred symbol; such extraordinary abil¬ 
ities as his must have appealed to the 
impressible mind of early man as a man¬ 
ifestation of the infinite powers of the 
Supreme Procreator himself. 

This animal figured very prominently 
in many of the religious celebrations, and 
down to the present time has been em¬ 
ployed in the initiation ceremonies of se¬ 
cret orders, as he was in the mystic rites of 
the ancient Egyptians, in which the pries ts 
jyerg.required to be initiated, into the mys¬ 
teries of the Goat, before they could be 
admitted to the divine knowledge of Isis. 
These mysteries were so sacred, and so 
zealously guarded by the few initiates, 
that very little is really known concerning 
them. 

The Greeks idealized the goat in their 
god Pan and his voluptuous attendants, 
the fauns and satyrs; creatures half man 
and half goat. Pan was the patron deity 


IOO 


SEX WORSHIP. 


of sensual pastimes, and representations of 
him depict him as worthy of the highest 
honor on this score. 

The^dove was a symbol of Bacchus, in 
his character of the First Begotten of 
Love, and was emblematic of the Holy 
Spirit, or divine generative power, through 
which he came into being. 

Among the Hindoos the tortoise is an 
important phallic emblem. This animal 
was probably chosen as a sacred repre¬ 
sentative of the creative deity because of 
its fabled androgyny,—an attribute of the 
Creator which will be considered in an¬ 
other place,—and because of its great fecun¬ 
dity and tenacity of life. Furthermore, 
the frequency and rapidity with which it 
protrudes and withdraws its head, chang¬ 
ing from an appearance of repose to one 
of energy and action, as well as the shape 
of its head and neck when aroused, readily 
suggested to the imaginative phallic-wor¬ 
shiper the active lingam, or masculine 
creative symbol. 

Among the more important natural em- 





PHALLIC EMBLEMS, IOI 

blems adopted by the Egyptians, was the 
river Nile, which symbolized the outpour¬ 
ing, the fertilizing and creative force, of 
Osiris ; and its waters were regarded with 
the same holy veneration that charac¬ 
terizes the worship of the river Ganges by 
the people of India to-day. 

The worship of fire, as symbolical of 
the creative energy, was also extensively 
practised ; particularly by the ancient 
Persians. 

But foremost of all natural emblems of 
Jthe creative deity was the sun ; nay, t j^e 
sun was the Creator himself, the Almighty 
God. It was he who gave light and life 
to the world ; upon him all existence de¬ 
pended. Osiris dwelt in the Sun as the 
omnipotent Creator, and through this all- 
potent medium manifested his powers to 
mankind. The supreme god of each of 
the early nations was closely allied with 
the sun. It was either the Deity himself 
or his glorious and almighty manifesta¬ 
tion. The worship of the sun, therefore, 
necessarily formed a part,—a very impor- 


102 


SEX WORSHIP. 


tant and significant part,—of phallic wor¬ 
ship. 

In the adoration of the sun, as the 
Creator and Preserver of mankind, lies 
the origin of a universal theological be¬ 
lief,—a belief that belongs to no one sect 
or age alone, but has been in existence 
and has been the foundation of religious 
faiths since the time man first beheld the 
wonders of the universe, and watched 
with anxious and reverential solicitude 
the annual journey of the Sun ; saw with 
dismay and fear the world grow cold and 
dead in the absence of the great Life- 
giver, in the winter season, and welcomed 
with joy and acclamations of praise the 
renewal and the resurrection of life, as the 
Sun, the Almighty Father and Savior, 
appeared again in the glory and radiance 
of his power. 


CHAPTER V. 


SEXUAL SACRIFICES. 

WHILE the world at large has always 
regarded sexual power or virility as a 
divine gift, to be cherished and exercised 
in accordance with its sacred and mys¬ 
terious purpose, and has looked upon the 
act of generation as not only proper and 
necessary, but as a holy and divinely or¬ 
dained function for the accomplishment 
of the supreme purpose of life, there has 
always been in human society a small but 
powerful religious element that insists 
upon an abnegation of the sexual nature, 
as the only true condition for a proper 
communion with God. 

Hence, we find in all times and among 
all peoples certain religious cults whose 
priests or leaders are required to abstain 
from all sexual affairs. Among the an¬ 
cients this rule was not confined to mere 
103 


104 


SEX WORSHIP. 


continence or celibacy, but was often ex¬ 
tended to actual emasculation of the 
priests ; a custom that attained its greatest 
prominence in Phrygia, an ancient prov¬ 
ince of Asia Minor, because of the ex¬ 
traordinary ceremonies there attendant 
upon the act of castration. 

These ceremonies formed a part of the 
annual celebration of the festival of Attis 
and Cybele ; the latter being the earth 
goddess, or mother deity, who fell in love 
with the beautiful youth, Attis, of whom 
she exacted a vow of chastity as her 
priest, but who, having broken his vow 
for the sake of a lovely nymph, was de¬ 
prived by the goddess of his reason, and 
in his frenzy he castrated himself; where¬ 
upon the goddess ordained that there¬ 
after all her priests should be eunuchs. 

In commemoration of this legend, there 
was held each year, in the springtime, a 
wild and noisy though at the same time 
sacred and solemn festival. It began in 
quiet and sorrow for the death-like sleep 
of Attis. On the third day joy broke 


SEXUAL SACRIFICES. 


105 


forth and was manifested by delirious hi¬ 
larity. The frenzied priests of Cybele 
rushed about in bands, with haggard eyes 
and disheveled hair, like drunken revelers 
and insane women. In one hand they 
carried burning fire-brands, and in the 
other they brandished the sacred knife. 
They dashed into the woods and valleys 
and climbed the mountain heights, keep¬ 
ing up a horrible noise and continual 
groaning. An intoxicating drink rendered 
them wild. They beat each other with 
the chains they carried, and when they 
drew blood upon their companions or 
themselves they danced with wild and 
tumultuous gesticulations, flogging their 
backs and piercing their limbs and even 
their bodies. Finally, in honor of their 
goddess, they turned the sacred knife 
upon their genitals, and, calling upon 
their deity, showed their gaping wounds, 
and offered her the spoils of their de¬ 
stroyed virility. After recovering from 
this self-inflicted emasculation, these ini¬ 
tiates adopted woman’s dress, and were 


io6 


SEX WORSHIP. 


then ready to become priests, or, failing in 
that, to take their place among the attend¬ 
ants of the temple, to engage in pederasty 
for the benefit of the temple treasury, 
whenever the patrons might prefer such 
indulgence to that afforded by the conse¬ 
crated women. 

The motive for sexual sacrifices of this 
kind is probably to be found in the desire 
to resemble the Deity in his androgynous 
character. As will be shown, there were 
numerous religious faiths in which it was 
held that the creative deity combined in 
himself both the male and female princi¬ 
ples, and as the ultimate aim of the priest¬ 
hood has ever been to attain to a resem¬ 
blance to or a union with God, it is but 
reasonable that such a method should 
have been adopted by certain sects. A 
castrated priest was neither man nor wo¬ 
man ; and yet, paradoxically, he was both. 
In form and figure he represented the 
male principle, while in dress and in the 
absence of the active masculine functions, 
he represented the female. 


SEXUAL SACRIFICES. 


107 


In some instances, however, and par¬ 
ticularly in later times, this motive gave 
place to one of another character, and 
this was the desire to please and propiti¬ 
ate the Almighty by sacrificing the great¬ 
est of human blessings and pleasures, in 
accordance with the old and widespread 
belief, that God is always best pleased 
when his creatures are most miserable; 
hence, the greater the sacrifice, the greater 
the pleasure afforded him. 

Castration is practised by many relig¬ 
ious fanatics even at the present day, and 
is prescribed as a fundamental tenet of a 
certain sect of Christians in Russia, who 
hold that the millennium will not arrive 
until all the men of the world are castrated. 
Consequently, this sect is composed en¬ 
tirely of self-made eunuchs, and hun¬ 
dreds of converts annually butcher them¬ 
selves in this manner. Their authority 
for this practice is found in the twelfth 
verse of the nineteenth chapter of Mat¬ 
thew, wherein Christ says unto his disci¬ 
ples, “ There are some eunuchs which 


108 SEX WORSHIP. 

were so born from their mother’s womb ; 
and there are some eunuchs which were 
made eunuchs of men ; and there be 
eunuchs which have made themselves 
eunuchs for the kingdom of heaven’s 
Sake.” 

In the history of Christianity this pas¬ 
sage has not infrequently been the incit¬ 
ing cause of sexual sacrifices, but the chief 
motive for sacrifices of this nature has 
been the endeavor to give up all worldly 
delights and vain enjoyments, as incom¬ 
patible with a proper worship of God. 
Hence, the struggles of the early Chris¬ 
tian devotees, and of the many who have 
followed in their footsteps down to the 
present day, to resist the promptings of 
the flesh, in order to attain to a pure, 
spiritual communion with God. 

This did not necessarily imply castra¬ 
tion ; yet there were many (among whom 
was Origen, one of the most famous of 
the early fathers) who resorted to it as 
the only means of successfully subduing 
the temptations of the devil. The ma- 


SEXUAL SACRIFICES. 109 

jority sought to accomplish their purpose 
by taking vows of absolute continence ; 
and the greater the struggles they en¬ 
dured, the greater was their triumph and 
spiritual satisfaction. That the faithful 
did suffer by thus absolutely abstaining 
from the gratification of their natural 
desires and appetites, is well attested by 
history and by the well-known physiologi¬ 
cal fact, that absolute continence is often 
attended with mental and physical de¬ 
rangements as painful and as disastrous 
as those resulting from the most intem¬ 
perate indulgence. 

This mode of sexual sacrifice, in its 
modified form of celibacy, as a sacerdotal 
requirement, still constitutes a promi¬ 
nent feature of the tenets and church 
government of a large part of the Chris¬ 
tian world. 

Sexual offerings to the deities were not 
confined alone to masculine devotees, for 
it was a common religious ordinance in 
many of the ancient nations, that every 
woman should sexually sacrifice herself to 


IIO 


SEX WORSHIP. 


the gods; not, however, by any act of 
mutilation, but by permitting herself to 
be embraced by a patron of the temple. 

Whenever a woman desired to perform 
this religious duty she repaired to the 
temple, and placed herself under a sus¬ 
pended branch of mistletoe, which was 
the customary mode of indicating that 
she was at the service of the first stranger 
who desired to take advantage of the 
opportunity ; a custom which, in its 
modified form of kissing under the mistle¬ 
toe, is retained to this day, and is familiar 
to all of us as a feature of Christmas 
festivities. 

The temple of Mylitta, at Babylon, 
was particularly noted for the sacrifices 
of this kind that were made there, and 
the following account of the manner in 
which the rites were conducted is taken 
from the description given by Herod¬ 
otus : 

“ Every native-born woman is obliged 
at sometime in her life to go to the Tem¬ 
ple of Mylitta and submit her person to 


SEXUAL SACRIFICES. 


Ill 


the embraces of a strange man. Many 
of the more wealthy, who disdain to be 
confounded with the commonalty, have 
themselves carried to the temple in 
covered chairs. There they keep their 
seats with a following of many domestics 
who have accompanied them. But the 
majority of the women, who wear on 
their heads a circlet made of cord, settle 
themselves in a certain part of the grounds 
that pertain to the temple. There is a 
constant stream of women arriving and 
departing. The men strangers walk up 
and down the passageways formed by 
stretched ropes, and pick out the women 
who best please them. A woman having 
once entered cannot return home until a 
man, with whom she has had no carnal 
intercourse before, kneels and throws to 
her a piece of silver, exclaiming as he 
does so, ‘ I invoke the goddess Mylitta ! ’— 
this being the Assyrian name for Venus ; 
—and, however trifling the sum thrown 
to her may be, its refusal would be un¬ 
lawful, because the silver so offered be- 


112 


SEX WORSHIP. 


comes sacred, and is applied to religious 
purposes. The woman is obliged, there¬ 
fore, to follow him, and the two repair at 
once to one of the semi-secluded alcoves 
of the temple designed for the purpose in 
view. At length, having performed her 
duty to the goddess, she returns home, 
and cannot be again subjected to the or¬ 
deal, whatever may be the sum of money 
offered her. Those who are fortunate 
enough to be pretty or elegantly dressed 
do not remain long in the temple. The 
homely and otherwise less-favored must 
stay longer, because they are not able to 
so readily fulfill their mission, and for 
this reason some have been obliged to 
dwell there for three or four years.” 

This practice resembled that of the con¬ 
secrated prostitution so common among 
phallic-worshiping people, in the fact 
that sexual union under these divine 
auspices was considered both proper and 
holy, but its object was, of course, dif¬ 
ferent from that which governed the 
profession of the women of the temple. 


SEXUAL SACRIFICES. 


113 

In the vast majority of cases, the women 
who thus presented themselves at the 
temples were maidens, whose purpose it 
was to sacrifice their virginity to the 
patron deity. 

From time immemorial virginity has 
been regarded as divinely sacred, and 
has universally been looked upon as be¬ 
longing exclusively to the gods. This 
belief was so strongly implanted in the 
minds of the ancient Romans, that their 
law would not permit a virgin to be exe¬ 
cuted in the ordinary manner. No mat¬ 
ter what the enormity of her guilt, the 
woman, if a virgin, could not be subjected 
to the penalty of death by violent hands. 
By reason of her virginity she was the 
property of the gods; she contained with¬ 
in her the spiritual presence of the Deity; 
and, hence, before inflicting the last pen¬ 
alty, it was the duty of the executioner 
to remove the god from her ; and for this 
purpose he was obliged, as a part of his 
office, to deflower her; after which she 
was strangled or burned. 

8 . 


SEX WORSHIP. 


H 4 

This idea of the holiness of maidenhood 
led to the adoption of religious precepts 
requiring that virginity should be given to 
God, and to this day such sacrifices are 
. made by many Christian women, who 
take solemn vows of chastity, and confine 
themselves in convents, for the purpose 
of giving up their lives and their virginity 
to the Almighty. 

Among the ancients, however, life-long 
continence was not regarded as a necessary 
means for the sacrifice of virginity. The 
religious duty of women to bear children 
would not in those days have permitted 
such a custom. To them it was sufficient 
that the first sexual act of a woman should 
be given to her deity ; that the act by which 
she gave up her divine virginity should be 
dedicated to the god or goddess of her re¬ 
ligion. This was sometimes done in the 
manner as described by Herodotus, but 
among other peoples it was deemed essen¬ 
tial that the sacrifice should be made 
through a holy representative of the deity, 
or by means of his consecrated image. 


SEXUAL SACRIFICES. 115 

Accordingly, we find that in some cases 
it was customary for women to give up 
their virginity to the priests of the tem¬ 
ples, while others offered their maiden¬ 
hood to an image of the Creator. This 
latter mode was common in Rome, where 
the marriage laws required that, before 
the nuptials could be consummated, the 
bride must sacrifice her virginity to Pria- 
pus. It was usual, therefore, immediately 
after the conclusion of the wedding cere¬ 
monies, for the bride and her husband, at¬ 
tended by the parents and friends, to re¬ 
pair to a statue of Priapus, and there, in 
the presence of her husband and the as¬ 
sembled company, take her first lesson 
in practical priapic worship, by means of 
the iron or stone phallus of the sacred 
image. 

This rite was a solemnly religious one. 
The bride was thus brought to the pria¬ 
pic statue immediately after the wedding, 
in order not only that she should give to 
the god his due, but that she might be 
rendered fruitful by contact with the di- 


ii6 


SEX WORSHIP. 


vine generator, and be capable of faith¬ 
fully and well performing all the duties of 
her untried situation as a wife. The cere¬ 
mony was accompanied with an offering 
of flowers and libations of wine, and with 
prayers to the god for matrimonial and 
maternal blessings. 


CHAPTER VI. 


THE FEMALE PRINCIPLE. 

A FAR greater importance has always 
been attached to the male than to the fe¬ 
male principle of creation. The Creator 
always was and ever has been regarded as 
masculine. The supreme deity of every 
theolo gy is a male,. This is due to the 
fact that the part played by the woman 
in the phenomenon of procreation is not 
only passive and receptive, but was for a 
long time regarded as merely functional. 
The woman was simply the man’s chattel, 
whose only purpose was to bear him his 
children. That she contributed toward 
the production of the offspring by any 
creative power of her own was not appre¬ 
ciated. Only the masculine—the active 
—element was recognized in the act of 
procreation; it alone was the generator. 

117 



11 8 SEX WORSHIP. 

The female element was naught but that 
of a passive producer and bearer of what 
the male created. 

But in time mankind awoke to a realiza¬ 
tion of the fact that the female element 
plays an important and essential part in 
the reproduction of life ; that not only is 
the union of the sexes necessary for pro¬ 
creation, but that the production of the 
offspring depends upon the co-operation 
and reciprocal activity of both elements, 
and hence the female principle of nature, 
instead of being considered simply as a 
passive medium, was exalted and wor¬ 
shiped as a potent factor in the mystery 
of creation and reproduction. 

In fact, there were some among the 
early people of the world who carried this 
worship to an extreme, holding that the 
female creative power was superior to 
that of the male, and that the feminine 
generative organs were the true symbol 
of the creative deity. This gave rise to 
two great religious factions: the worshipers 
of the female symbol, the yoni, and the 


THE FEMALE PRINCIPLE. 119 

worshipers of the phallus or lingam. In 
the very oldest records of the world there 
are certain vague allusions here and there 
to great religious wars of prehistoric 
times—wars between the Yonites and the 
Lingamites; wars that were more terrible 
and destructive than any that have shaken 
the world in later times and whose fun¬ 
damental issue was never settled, but has 
descended from age to age and from gen¬ 
eration to generation, even unto this day, 
wjiere we find man still fighting and ready 
to fight, to prove that his god is the only 
true god. 

Our earliest records and traditions indi¬ 
cate, however, that a reconciliatory wor¬ 
ship of both the male and female prin¬ 
ciples had become general thousands of 
years ago; for we find in all religions a 
reverential recognition of the necessity 
of female co-operation in the production 
of life. Although the Creator, the Su¬ 
preme God, is always represented as 
masculine and omnipotent, it is also true 
that in no theological account of the 


120 


SEX WORSHIP. 


genesis of the world is it held that the 
Creator brought life into existence with¬ 
out the assistance of the feminine ele¬ 
ment. In some of the old theologies, asj 
the Greek and Egyptian, for example, the 
Creator is represented with a consort, a 
celestial wife, who was worshiped as next 
in rank to the Creator himself. 

Again, as in the case of Brahma, the su¬ 
preme god of the Hindoos, he is repre¬ 
sented as androgynous ; that is, uniting 
both sexes in one, and being thus capable 
of sexual union within himself. This 
idea of an androgynous deity is a very 
common one in the ancient faiths, as well 
as among the Hindoos of to-day, and 
there are found frequent realistic repre¬ 
sentations of deities possessed of the or¬ 
gans of both sexes, or showing a beard 
on the face of a goddess, as may be seen 
in some of the pictures of Venus. Por¬ 
trayals of the androgynal deity are fre¬ 
quent on the temples of India, and many 
of the figures are most elaborately de¬ 
signed, in an attempt to both truly and 


THE FEMALE PRINCIPLE. 


121 


symbolically represent the divine duality 
of the Creator. 

In one of the sacred books of the Hin¬ 
doos we are told, that “ the Supreme 
Spirit in the act of creation became two¬ 
fold ; the right side was male, the left 
side female.” The principal symbol in 
representation of this double-sex divinity 
is one of a figure made up of male and 
female parts, but so embellished with mys¬ 
tical designs and symbolical details as to 
be beyond the comprehension of the aver¬ 
age mind ; which, indeed, is the very pur¬ 
pose of this sacred symbol; for, as the 
Hindoos say, “ When one can interpret 
this emblem of the androgynous divinity 
he knows all that is known.” 

In other theologies, while there is lack¬ 
ing a feminine consort, or a creator pos¬ 
sessed of both sexes, it is recorded that 
life was brought into existence by the 
divine impregnation of the earth or the 
waters, which is virtually a union of the 
two elements ; for, as will be shown here¬ 
after, both the earth and the waters have 


122 


SEX WORSHIP. 


always been regarded as feminine and as 
symbols of the female creative function. 
In the Mosaic account of genesis we read, 
that “ the spirit of the Lord moved upon 
the face of the waters;” which means, 
literally, that the Creator impregnated 
the waters, or the female element of 
nature. 

In short, the human mind could not 
conceive of creation or reproduction with¬ 
out the employment of both the male and 
female elements, notwithstanding that the 
true importance of the latter was some¬ 
times almost entirely ignored, and was 
worshiped to a much less extent than the 
former. 

That life could be produced without 
the congress of the two sexes, was never 
believed, for we see that the Almighty 
and Supreme God could not himself ac¬ 
complish it. This conviction is further 
illustrated in the various legends concern¬ 
ing the birth of a god by a virgin. In all 
of the theologies containing this feature 
(and there are none that do not), it is 


THE FEMALE PRINCIPLE. 


123 


taught that the Supreme Father had 
actual, material knowledge of the virgin ; 
it is not held that she conceived without 
contact with the masculine element. This, 
according to universal belief, would have 
been impossible, in spite of the omnipo¬ 
tence of the Deity, because of its opposi¬ 
tion to nature and to God. 

Whatever may be the spiritual idea at 
the present time regarding the immaculate 
impregnation of the Virgin of Christianity, 
it is certain, according to statements in 
the Bible, that neither Joseph nor Mary, 
nor, in fact, the writers of the gospels 
themselves, ever supposed that a woman 
could conceive without direct masculine 
assistance. That this idea was held in the 
church for centuries afterwards, is realisti¬ 
cally demonstrated by the picture of the 
“ Rosary of the Blessed Vi rg in/ ' printed 
by authority of the Church, at Venice, in 
i frj .2. This represents the Virgin kneeling 
before an altar, with her arms and eyes 
upraised to heaven, where she beholds a 
radiant throng of cherubim with the Holy 



124 


SEX WORSHIP. 


Dove in their midst, while a potent ray of 
light descends and enters her person, on 
the front of which is a picture of the di¬ 
vinely and miraculously conceived Christ- 
child. 

The holiness and wonder of the birth 
of a son by a virgin lay not in the fact 
that a virgin conceived, but that she con¬ 
ceived through the divine impregnation 
of God ; that the Almighty had chosen 
her for his sacred purpose. Unions be¬ 
tween gods and women are frequently 
related in the ancient mythologies, and 
are always regarded as sanctifying the 
woman, of elevating her above her fellow 
mortals, and of endowing her child with 
god-like attributes ; as witness the legends 
of the Greek and Roman mythologies, 
and the account of the immaculate con¬ 
ception and birth of K rishna, the Hindoo 
savior, and of Buddha, the founder of 
one of the greatest religious faiths of the 
world. 

This universally recognized necessity 
for the union of the male with the female 




THE FEMALE PRINCIPLE. 


125 


element, in order to accomplish the glo¬ 
rious purpose of reproduction, naturally- 
resulted in the worship of the female prin¬ 
ciple as co-ordinate with that of the male, 
as is found in many of the early religions. 
Isis, the great feminine creative god of the 
Egyptians, was worshiped with a venera¬ 
tion fully equal to that bestowed upon 
her masculine companion, Osiris; and 
though all nations did not give to the 
feminine deity so high a rank, there was 
none that did not have its Goddess of 
Life, its Queen of Heaven, its Friga, its 
Aphrodite, or one of a great variety of 
forms and names under which the deifica¬ 
tion of the feminine principle was known. 

While mankind came to realize the 
vast significance of the feminine nature, 
and to worship it as a factor in the di¬ 
vine purpose of all life, he did not, as a 
rule, give to it equal rank with that of the 
great male principle. The masculine Crea¬ 
tor has always been supreme in his power 
and capabilities. The initiative of all life 
and activity rests with him ; he is the ac- 



126 


SEX WORSHIP. 


tive, moving, generating power of nature, 
while the female is the receptive, passive 
element, the molder and preserver of life. 

As there were in prehistoric times, so 
are there to-day certain sects that consider 
and worship the female principle as supe¬ 
rior to that of the male. These are the 
Hin doo worshipers of Sactj, the supreme 
feminine creative deity, whose worship 
consists in the adoration of the vulva, as 
her sacred symbol and divine incarnation. 
In adoring her mentally the worshiper is 
taught to imagine this symbol, which is 
commonly called the yoni, in which he 
must see a chapel, which he is to enter 
and wherein he is to worship. 

The principal ceremony of this sect con¬ 
sists in a religious service designed for the 
purpose of manifesting reverence for and 
paying tribute to the divine female power. 

This ceremony requires the presence of 
a young, beautiful and nude girl, as a liv¬ 
ing representative of the goddess. She is 
generally chosen from the company of 
consecrated nautch girls attached to the 


THE FEMALE PRINCIPLE. 


127 


temple, and one thus selected esteems it a 
special honor, as a tribute to her beauty, 
accomplishments and abilities, which must 
be of the highest order to render her 
worthy as a representative of the immac¬ 
ulate deity. To this girl meat and wine 
are offered by the devotees, after which 
follow dancing and the chanting of hymns. 
As an act of the highest devotion, and as 
typical of the divine means by which life 
is produced, the devout worshipers con¬ 
clude the ceremony by a sexual offering 
to the sacred representative of the deity, 
who is obliged to bestow her favors upon 
all of the devotees who desire thus to pay 
homage to their creator. 

The ancient holy regard for the femi¬ 
nine power was, in a measure due, to its 
magical and inciting effect upon the mas¬ 
culine nature. It was through the woman 
that the divine sexual emotions were 
aroused ; it was the sight or thought of 
her that brought into activity mans gen¬ 
erative nature and powers. The invigor¬ 
ating and inspiring effect produced by the 


128 


SEX WORSHIP. 


sight or touch of a woman, especially a 
virgin, in the garb of nature, was regarded 
with deepest reverence, as a manifesta¬ 
tion of the divine feminine power. Its 
potency was universally recognized, and 
we are told that it was employed for the 
purpose of infusing life and vigor into 
king David, after he had become aged: 

“ Now king David was old and stricken 
in years, and they covered him with 
clothes, but he gat no heat. Wherefore 
his servants said unto him, Let there be 
sought for my lord a young virgin ; and 
let her stand before the king, and let her 
cherish him, and let her lie in thy bosom, 
that my lord may get heat.”(i K. I : I, 2). 

Like those of the masculine principle, 
the attributes of the feminine element of 
life were ascribed to a deity, the feminine 
ruler and patron of fecundity, of sexual 
power and of love ; and the organ (the 
yoni) through which her powers were man¬ 
ifested became her sacred symbol, and was 
worshiped in the same light and with the 
same veneration as the phallus. In itself, 


THE FEMALE PRINCIPLE. 129 

however,—aside from its theological sig¬ 
nificance—it was regarded with greater 
reverence than its masculine counterpart; 
it was more carefully concealed, and 
treated as more mystical. The sight of a 
living yoni, particularly that of a virgin, 
was thought to be of magical virtue, and 
was considered a certain omen of good 
fortune. 

A remnant of the devout regard for¬ 
merly inspired by this representative of 
the feminine deity is still to be found 
among certain sects in India, Palestine 
and parts of Africa. The devotee, on 
bended knee and in silent prayer, offers 
to the uncovered yoni a part of the food 
given him by the woman, before he tastes 
it, which she accepts and eats as evidence 
of its purity from poison. This ceremony 
is simply a solemn method of vowing 
mutual friendship, and is similar in mean¬ 
ing to the ancient mode of swearing by 
grasping the phallus. 

9 


CHAPTER VII. 


FEMININE EMBLEMS. 

The independent yoni, the feminine sym¬ 
bol of creation, was naturally more diffi¬ 
cult to exactly represent in the form of an 
image than was the phallus, or lingam; 
and from the very beginning, therefore, 
this symbol was portrayed in more or 
less conventional forms, and was not in¬ 
frequently extended to other more easily 
represented portions of the female anat¬ 
omy, as the breasts, the mons Veneris , 
etc. 

The principal design in representation 
of the yoni was one that was known un¬ 
der the name of Asher ah, which is trans¬ 
lated and referred to in the Bible as the 
grove , ox groves. This image, which was 
a symbol of Ashtoreth, or of the union of 
Baal and Ashtoreth—the male and female 


FEMININE EMBLEMS. 


131 

procreative deities of the Assyrians,—was 
generally made of wood, and had in 
its center an opening or fissure, which 
was regarded as preeminently sacred, as 
the Door of Life. Above this fissure was 
an emblematical representation of the cli¬ 
toris, divided into seven parts, and around 
the Door of Life were carved tufts of hair, 
thirteen in number, indicating the annual 
fertile periods of a woman. 

Designs of this image occur very fre¬ 
quently in the sculptures of Nineveh and 
Babylon. It is almost always shown re¬ 
ceiving the adoration of the king and his 
attendants, who hold in their hands pine 
cones and other symbolical sex offerings. 
Above the grove is a winged figure—the 
celestial bowman, with his bow and a 
quiver full of arrows, for the use of all who 
desire divine vigor in the concluding rites 
of the worship, which required that the 
devotees should unite in sexual congress, 
as a fitting tribute to the deity ; a per¬ 
formance that took place in a small bower 
situated near the idol. 


32 


SEX WORSHIP. 


In the figure and office of the Assyrian 
bowman we see the prototype of the Gre¬ 
cian Cupid, the little god of love, or ama¬ 
tory desire, with his bow and arrows ; the 
arrow being a very old phallic emblem. 

According to the Old Testament, the 
Israelites were constantly lapsing into idol¬ 
atry by serving Baal and the groves. Many 
of their kings deserted the faith of their 
fathers by building altars, temples and 
images and burning incense to the phallic 
deities of the Chaldeans, Assyrians, Egyp¬ 
tians and others. They were particu¬ 
larly persistent in the worship of the 
groves, “ which were set up on every high 
hill and under every green tree.” These 
were usually surrounded with hangings or 
curtains, forming a tent or semi-secluded 
bower, to which the male and female devo¬ 
tees repaired for the sexual comsumma- 
tion of their worship, after having anoint¬ 
ed the image and placed before it offer¬ 
ings of fruits, flowers and incense, ac¬ 
companied with prayers and the chanting 
of hymns. 


FEMININE EMBLEMS. 


133 


Judging from the lamentations of the 
prophets, and their allusions to some of 
the practices indulged in by the children 
of Israel, it is evident that the worship of 
Baal and other phallic deities of the neigh¬ 
boring tribes, was of an intensely sexual 
character, and appealed more strongly to 
the religious disposition of those days than 
did the more temperate worship prescribed 
by the laws of Moses. For a graphic de¬ 
scription of the “abominations” resulting 
from the religious intercourse of the Jews 
with the Assyrians, Chaldeans and Baby¬ 
lonians, the reader is referred to the 16th 
and the 23d chapters of Ezekiel. 

The most common form of the feminine 
symbol was that made in representation of 
the mons Veneris. This was represented 
by mounds and pyramids, remains of 
which, in various styles and sizes, are to 
be found in all parts of the world; the 
most conspicuous examples being.the pyr¬ 
amids of Egypt, which are still the wonder 
of the world, though comparatively few 
people are aware of the religious and 



134 


SEX WORSHIP. 


sexual significance of these marvelous 
structures. 

They were erected in honor of the fem¬ 
inine creative deity, and no other motive 
but that of religion could have prompted 
the building of such gigantic monuments. 
Various explanations of their purpose and 
significance have been set forth, with the 
result that we have been taught to regard 
them simply as tombs or as great observa¬ 
tories, as though the ancients had nothing 
better to do, or had no higher motives, 
than to build these wonderful structures 
for the sole purpose of sepulchers, or to 
scatter observatories all over the country, 
and many of them within close range of 
one another. 

When we consider that the pyramid of 
Cheops, for example, covers an area of 
nearly fourteen acres, that it was origin¬ 
ally four hundred and seventy-nine feet in 
height and contained ninety million cubic 
feet of rock, which is in immense blocks, 
each of which had to be quarried, dressed 
and carried to the pyramid, and this in 



FEMININE EMBLEMS. 


135 


an age (three thousand years before Christ) 
when mechanical contrivances were of the 
most primitive kind,—when these facts are 
borne in mind, it is irrational to suppose 
that this titanic work was designed for an 
insignificant purpose. 

It is true that all the pyramids of 
Egypt were intended for sepulchers, but 
their shape and colossal proportions were 
the result of a religious desire to sanctify 
the resting-places of the dead, and to 
honor the feminine creator. 

Pyramids, or their remains, are like¬ 
wise met with in Babylon, in various parts 
of Italy and India, and in China and 
Japan. Next to Egypt they are most 
frequent in Mexico and other portions of 
America. Some of these ancient Mexican 
pyramids far exceed in area the dimen¬ 
sions of the largest Egyptian monuments, 
but, unlike those of Egypt, were generally 
designed for use as temples, though their 
religious significance and symbolical pur¬ 
pose were the same. 

The pyramid was the elaborated or con- 


SEX WORSHIP. 


136 

ventionalized form of the mound, which 
was the primary symbol of the mons 
Veneris. Remains of artificial mounds, 
as religious emblems, are common in many 
parts of the world ; but, as a rule, greater 
reverence was paid to natural mounds 
and elevations, especially those of well- 
defined shape. Such elevations, there¬ 
fore, were regarded as sacred spots, and 
were dedicated to divine worship; altars 
and temples being considered more holy 
if placed upon a mound, and we learn 
from the Old Testament how intimately 
the “ high places ” and “ high hills ” were 
associated with the worship of the feminine 
deity. 

This regard for natural elevations fre¬ 
quently extended to mountains, and there 
are sects to this day who worship moun¬ 
tains as symbols of the feminine creative 
deity. In Germany is the famous Horsel- 
berg, commonly called Venusberg, or 
mountain of Venus. This is the mountain 
connected with the legend of Tannhauser, 
and those acquainted with the legend will 


FEMININE EMBLEMS. 


137 


perceive the full significance of the name 
given the mountain. In ancient times it 
was held in particular veneration, not only 
because of its shape, but because of the 
large cavern that opens into it. 

A natural opening was always looked 
upon as a particularly sacred emblem. 
Any hole or cave, any cleft or fissure, 
any natural crevice, was regarded with 
holy reverence, as sacred to the divine 
Mother Earth. From time immemorial 
the earth has been regarded as feminine ; 
as the All-creative Mother ; the consort of 
the Almighty Father, the Sun. Accord¬ 
ing to many early myths, the human race 
was conceived in the womb of the Earth- 
Mother, and the first man and woman 
came forth from the under-world. To 
this day we talk of men as creatures of 
earth ; as coming from the earth and re¬ 
turning to the earth, and in our burial 
custom we are but continuing the an¬ 
cient practice, that had its origin with 
prehistoric man, of reverentially giving 
back to Mother Earth the children of her 
womb. 


138 


SEX WORSHIP. 


When once the idea became general 
that our world is feminine, it was but rea¬ 
sonable that natural orifices should have 
been regarded as typical of that part which 
characterizes woman, and this religious 
regard for openings in the earth naturally 
led to a like veneration for crevices or 
cleft in rocks, and finally for artificial 
openings or apertures, especially those 
connected with places of worship. In the 
vestibule of a church at Rome there is a 
large perforated stone, in the hole of which 
the Romans are said to have placed their 
hands while swearing a solemn oath ; a 
practice analogous to that of the He¬ 
brews. 

As at birth, a new being issues from the 
mother, so it was supposed that emer¬ 
gence from a terrestrial or other sancti¬ 
fied cleft was equivalent to a new birth 
—to regeneration,—and in many places it 
was a common practice for parents to 
sanctify their children by passing them 
through openings and crevices. 

Artificial holes, designed for purposes 


FEMININE EMBLEMS. 


x 39 


of purification, are still to be seen in some 
of the ancient religious structures of the 
British Isles and India ; the stones in a cer¬ 
tain part of the building being so arranged 
as to have a hole under them, through 
which the devotees passed, and were thus 
purified, or “ born again/’ 

Similar customs are still practised in 
parts of India. On the Island of Bombay, 
at Malabar Hill, there is a rock, upon the 
surface of which is a natural crevice, which 
connects with a cavity opening below. 
This is used by the Gentoos as a means 
of purification, which they say is effected 
by going in at the lower opening and 
emerging from the cavity above. A sim¬ 
ilar practice is more extensively observed 
in the northern portion of India, where 
there is a celebrated place to which many 
pilgrims go, to pass through an opening 
in the mountain; the performance being 
known as “passing through the Cow’s 
Belly.” In other places this mode of 
purification is accomplished by passing 
through an artificial structure in the shape 


140 


SEX WORSHIP. 


of a cow; the devotees going in at the 
mouth and emerging at the rear. 

The cow has always been regarded as a 
particularly holy emblem of the feminine 
deity. As the incarnation of Isis it was 
worshiped by the Egyptians with a venera¬ 
tion equal to that bestowed upon the bull. 
Many of the ancient temples dedicated 
to the feminine deity contained golden 
images of the cow or calf, and we are all 
familiar with the adoration paid by the 
Israelites to this creature as a sacred 
symbol. “ And when the people saw that 
Moses delayed to come down out of the 
mount, the people gathered themselves 
together unto Aaron, and said unto him, 
Up, make us gods which shall go before 
us” (Ex. 32: 1.). And when the image of 
the calf had been made from the golden 
earrings of the people, it was worshiped 
with loud rejoicings, as the representative 
of the deity that was to lead them out of 
the wilderness. 

In later years Rehoboam, the king of 
the Israelites, likewise made two calves of 


FEMININE EMBLEMS. 


141 

gold, and said unto the people, “ Behold 
thy gods, O Israel, which brought thee 
up out of the land of Egypt; ” * clearly 
demonstrating that the cow or calf was 
persistently regarded as a sacred symbol, 
notwithstanding that the worship of such 
images was forbidden by the Mosaic 
law. 

A symbol of equal significance with 
that of the opening or aperture, but of far 
greater sanctity and importance, was the 
xhest or ark, or any consecrated reposi¬ 
tory or enclosure. The yoni was the 
receptacle, the divine ark, of the phallus; 
within its hidden enclosure was contained 
the mystery of life. Its interior, to which 
the phallus, the Creator, alone had access, 
was the holy of holies. This was sym¬ 
bolized by the ark, the holiest of all 
symbols in the worship and ceremonies of 
the ancients. The most sacred object 
connected with the worship of Osiris was 
the ark, containing the divine symbol of 
life. 

* I. Kings 12 : 28. 



142 


SEX WORSHIP. 


The Jewish ark of the covenant, which 
in size and manner of construction very 
closely resembled the sacred ark of the 
Egyptians, was the most important and 
holy feature in the life and worship of the 
Israelites. The Lord himself furnished 
the plans for its construction, as we read 
in the twenty-fifth chapter of Exodus, 
and the Bible contains numerous refer¬ 
ences to its supreme holiness and sanc¬ 
tity. 

It was always guarded with the greatest 
care and veneration by. the priests, and 
when moved from one place to another, 
was borne upon the shoulders of the Le- 
vites, and attended with a grand cere¬ 
monial procession, “ with shouting and 
with sound of the cornet, and with trum¬ 
pets, and with cymbals, making a noise 
with psalteries, and harps.” We are told 
in the fifth and sixth chapters of I. Samuel 
of the sore distress that fell upon the 
Israelites on the occasion of its seizure 
by the Philistines and of the severe pun¬ 
ishments inflicted by the Lord upon the 


FEMININE EMBLEMS. 


143 


Philistines, in consequence. Men and 
cities were destroyed with great rigor, 
until the ark was returned; and when, 
as the result of their joy at its recovery, 
fifty thousand men had the profane au¬ 
dacity to look within its sacred enclosure, 
the Lord slew them all without mercy. 
(I. Sam. 6: 19). 

The ark was the divine symbol of the 
earth, of the female principle ; containing 
the germ of all animated nature, and re¬ 
garded as the Great Mother from whom 
all things come. It was likewise the 
symbol of salvation ; the place of safety, 
the sacred receptacle of the divine 
wisdom and power; hence, the ark of 
the covenant was the holy abiding place 
of the tables of law that had been handed 
to Moses by the Lord. It also contained 
Aaron’s rod, which sprang into life, and 
budded ; conveying the idea of sym¬ 
bolized fertility, and thus making the ark 
the repository of the emblem of the crea¬ 
tive deity. To this day the ark is re¬ 
tained as a religious symbol in the Chris- 


144 


SEX WORSHIP. 


tian church; for the Roman Catholic 
pyx, the holy receptacle of the body of 
Christ, is but an adaptation of the ark, 
and has the same purpose and signifi¬ 
cance as the ancient symbol. 

The ark of the Egyptians contained 
the symbols of the Triune Creator ; the 
phallus, the egg and the serpent ; the first 
representing the Sun, the male genera¬ 
tive principle, the active Creator ; the 
second, the Preserver ; the passive, female 
principle ; and the third, the Destroyer, 
or Reproducer. The egg as an emblem 
of the female principle was a very com¬ 
mon emblem in all ancient faiths. It was 
considered as containing the germ of all 
life ; the image of that which produced all 
things in itself; the emblem of life re¬ 
generated. As a symbol of the reproduc¬ 
tion or resurrection of life it is still em¬ 
ployed in the modern Easter celebration, 
as it was in similar celebrations in all past 
ages. 

The moon, like the earth, being recep¬ 
tive only, was in a similar manner regarded 


O 


FEMININE EMBLEMS. 


145 


as feminine, and was not infrequently 
worshiped as an actual deity—the Lunar 
Goddess. Ever remaining the same from 
year to year, unchanged by age and un¬ 
weakened by use, the ancients came to 
th ink of the moon as the ever-continuing 
virg in wife of the sun, and the virgin 
mother of all inferior deities. This natur¬ 
ally led to the adoption of representations 
of the moon as peculiarly significant sym¬ 
bols of the feminine principle of nature, 
the chief of these being the crescent, as an 
emblem of virginity. This is one of the 
most common and widely diffused femi¬ 
nine emblems, and to the present day 
amulets in the shape of a crescent are 
worn by the women of Italy, and are re¬ 
garded as especially appropriate to virgins 
and pregnant women. 

In pictorial representations of the yoni, 
as the symbol of the feminine procreative 
power, it is often portrayed with more 
realism than is to be found in its images. 
This is especially true when shown in its 
place on the female form, as is common 
10 


SEX WORSHIP. 


146 

on ancient coins, vases, sculptures and in 
designs on temples. Women with exag¬ 
gerated pudenda are frequently depicted 
on sacred lamps and other church utensils, 
and until within a short time ago several 
churches in Ireland had over their main 
entrance an elaborate sculpture of a wo¬ 
man pointing to her yoni. A similar de¬ 
sign was to be seen on the side of a church 
entrance at Servatos, in Spain, while an 
equally phallic man was exhibited on the 
opposite side. 

Symbolical designs of a similar charac¬ 
ter are still to be seen in India, plainly 
inscribed on the temples, or carved in 
stone and placed on the walls. Over the 
gates of one of the cities of the ancient 
province of Sirinpatau stands a life-size 
stone statue of Sita, one of the feminine 
deities of procreation, while on each side 
of her are three naked penitents on their 
knees, engaged in the act prescribed by 
the ancient ritual for the adoration of this 
goddess. 

In many cases, especially in the ancient 


FEMININE EMBLEMS. 


147 


temples of .Yucatan and Peru, the key¬ 
stone over the portal was adorned with a 
picture or carving of the yoni. Our mod¬ 
ern use of the horseshoe, as an emblem of 
good luck, owes its origin to this custom 
of placing a design of the yoni above the 
door as a talisman ; the horseshoe being 
adopted because of its resemblance to the 
form which the representation of the yoni 
most frequently assumed. 

The pointed oval was one of the most 
common of the more conventional designs 
of the yoni, and in various modifications 
is still retained in our church architecture, 
as may be seen in the shape of the doors, 
the windows and arches. This symbolical 
oval was frequently referred to as the 
“ Door of Lifej” and is to be seen in its 
true yonic significance in many ancient 
as well as modern religious designs. 
Virgin mothers and feminine deities were 
generally represented standing within a 
frame of this shape, and there are still in 
existence medals that were worn by Chris¬ 
tian pilgrims to the shrine of the Virgin 


14B 


SEX WORSHIP. 


of Amadon, on which is inscribed a design 
of this character, which was commonly 
known as “ The Mother and Child in the 
Door of Life.” 

As was pointed out in the case of the 
phallus, so it may be shown that many 
natural objects were chosen as emblems 
of the yoni, because of some resemblance 
to that symbol. Among the most com- 
mon and familiar emblems of this charac¬ 
ter is the conch shell, which is still worn 
as an amulet in various parts of the world, 
as it was by the devout women of anti¬ 
quity. 

The fish, too, is a well-known religious 
symbol, sacred originally to Ishtar, Venus 
and other feminine deifications of the sex¬ 
ual nature. This was chosen partly on] 
account of its fecundity and partly because 
its mouth was supposed to resemble the 
opening into the womb. Piscatorial de¬ 
signs are frequently met with on ancient 
temples and coins, and are not uncommon 
in the present-day symbology of India, 
one of the principal designs being that 


FEMININE EMBLEMS. 


149 


of Vishnu emerging from the mouth of a 
great fish. The bishop’s mitre is a modi¬ 
fied form of a fish’s head and mouth; a 
style of religious head-dress that resulted 
from the ancient practice of the priests of 
Nineveh, whose veneration for the fish as 
a holy emblem led them to adopt a form 
of dress resembling, as far as possible, the 
outward appearance of this sacred crea¬ 
ture. 

The fish was a common symbol of 
Friga, the Scandinavian goddess of mar¬ 
riage, from whom is derived the name of 
the sixth day of the week, as on that day 
the Scandinavians honored the goddess 
by offerings of her sacred emblem; a 
custom which we still observe by eating 
fish on Friday, or Friga’s day. 

In this connection it might be of inter¬ 
est to call attention to the fact, that three 
prominent phallic emblems have been re¬ 
tained by us as designs for weather vanes 
—the fish, the cock and the arrow. These 
emblems originally surmounted the towers 
and spires of religious buidings, but since 


SEX WORSHIP. 


150 

their significance has become obsolete, 
they have been relegated to the barns 
and stables. 

The fig tree is a particularly appropriate 
and suggestive emblem in sex worship. 
Its trilobed leaf is emblematical of the 
masculine triad, and was commonly used 
and referred to in that sense, and hence 
its use as a symbolical covering for the 
private parts of a nude figure. Besides 
its masculine suggestiveness, this tree had 
also a feminine significance, from the fact 
that its fruit was supposed to bear a strong 
likeness to the shape of the virgin uterus, 
and that the eating of it was thought to 
promote fecundity. 

It is evident, therefore, that this tree 
was one of unusual sacredness and signifi¬ 
cance, and, in the early religious records, 
is frequently used as a figure of speech 
for the expression of sentiments and ideas, 
which are meaningless to those unac¬ 
quainted with the many symbolical attri¬ 
butes that have been ascribed to this im¬ 
portant tree. “To sit under the vine and 


FEMININE EMBLEMS. 


151 

fig tree ; ” “ Don’t care a fig,” and other 

like expressions, are all of sexual signifi¬ 
cance. 

In addition to the fig, a great many 
other trees and fruits were symbolical 
of the procreative functions; as the pome¬ 
granate, the fir, the apple, the cedar, the 
palm, grapes, vines and berries ; all of 
which, together with several other exam¬ 
ples, are alluded to in their figurative 
sense in the Song of Solomon. This 
song represents an amatory duet between 
Solomon and the daughter of Pharaoh on 
the occasion of their nuptials, and is sup¬ 
posed to be but one of a thousand similar 
love-songs and odes composed by king 
Solomon. This particular composition 
is regarded as the song of songs, and is, 
indeed, an exquisite poem, being pre¬ 
served among the books of the Bible as 
emblematical of the love between Christ 
and the Church. 

This song affords a striking example of 
what has been said regarding the purity 
of sexuality, when made the object of or 


152 


SEX WORSHIP. 


connected with religious veneration. 
Hundreds of thousands of modest and 
devout men and women reverently read 
the Song of Solomon, and fail to see 
in its amatory language anything but 
what is pure and holy ; and yet were 
this song to be read by one who under¬ 
stood not its religious significance, it 
could not but impress him as highly 
erotic and sensual. 

When the lover, speaking to his be¬ 
loved one, says, “ Thy thighs are like 
jewels ; thy navel is like a round goblet ; 
thy belly is like an heap of wheat set 
about with lilies,” the reverent Christian 
sees only a poetic description of the 
Church. And when, in turn, the woman 
says of the man, “ His cheeks are as a 
bed of spices ; his lips like lilies, his belly 
as bright ivory, and his legs as pillars of 
marble, set upon sockets of fine gold,” 
and “ he shall lie all night betwixt my 
breasts,” the pious reader beholds nought 
but a holy figurative expression of the 
love of the Church for the Savior. 


FEMININE EMBLEMS. 153 

With this Song in mind, let us not 
hastily condemn those who formerly in¬ 
dulged in similar or other forms of sex¬ 
ual expressions of religion, however 
gross or sensual they may appear to us 
in our ignorance of the religious meaning 
attached to them. 


CHAPTER VIII. 


THE SERPENT AND THE CROSS. 

Serpent worship, next to the adora¬ 
tion of the phallus, is one of the most re¬ 
markable and, at the same time, one of 
the most widespread and persistent forms 
of religion the world has ever known. 
There is not a country of the ancient 
world, in the western as well as the east¬ 
ern hemisphere, where it cannot be traced, 
pervading every known faith and system 
of theology, and leaving abundant proofs 
of its existence and extent, in the shape 
of monuments, temples and earthworks, 
as well as in designs and inscriptions. 

No other symbol has been invested 
with such a variety of meanings and uses 
as has that of the serpent. It typified 
Wisdom, Power, Eternity, Good, Evil, 
Life, Reproduction and various other at- 
*54 


THE SERPENT AND THE CROSS. 155 

tributes of the creative principle. It en¬ 
tered into the mythology of every nation 
—Egypt, Syria, Greece, India, China, 
Scandinavia, America ; in short, there 
was no portion of the globe in which 
it was not recognized. It consecrated 
almost every temple, it symbolized almost 
every deity, it was imagined in the 
heavens, stamped on the earth, and ruled 
in the realms of everlasting sorrow. 

That the serpent was a phallic symbol 
there is no doubt, for its worship is coeval 
with that of the phallus, and formed part 
of the religion of every sex-worshiping 
nation ; and while the meanings attached 
to it were numerous and various, they all 
had reference to the creative or reproduc¬ 
tive principle of nature, and are readily 
reducible to the fundamental worship of 
procreation. 

In many instances the serpent was em¬ 
ployed as a symbol of the Creator, of the 
masculine element of generation, because 
of its shape and mobility ; a living phal¬ 
lus, as it were, actuated by its self-animat- 


56 


SEX WORSHIP. 


ing spirit, moving without hands or feet 
or any of the external members by which 
other beings effect their motion. Among 
most of the eastern nations, however, it 
had a more subtle significance, in that it 
represented an emotion or a feeling rather 
than a material object or actuality. While 
in a general sense it typified the Creator, 
its specific office was the symbolization 
of the animating spirit of procreation, the 
stimulating factor in the production and 
immortality of life. 

This potent, energizing factor was the 
sexual instinct, the Divine Passion. In 
it the ancient philosophers beheld the 
vital source of procreation, the moving 
energy in the production of life and the 
population of the world ; and hence, to 
them, this divine passion, this all-pervad¬ 
ing, impelling force, was the actuating, 
creative spirit of the Almighty. Con¬ 
sequently, it became an object of venera¬ 
tion, as the divine, spiritual agent in the 
great mystery of life; and, naturally, its 
worshipers sought for it some suggestive 


THE SERPENT AND THE CROSS. 157 

symbol, with the result that the serpent 
was chosen, as most fully and comprehen¬ 
sively embodying the various attributes 
of the Creator in his subtle and omni¬ 
potent power. 

In all probability, the cobra de capello, 
or hooded snake of India, was the par¬ 
ticular species of the reptile first adopted 
as an emblem of the Divine Passion, be¬ 
cause of its highly suggestive peculiari¬ 
ties. It has the power of puffing itself 
up, enlarging and erecting its head, when 
aroused to excitement, and its size, shape, 
position, and regular pulsations when in 
this condition, as well as its well-known 
power of fascination, were all extremely 
significant, and readily appealed to the 
fancy and superstition of an emotional 
and religious race. 

All of the more ancient representations 
of the serpent in the symbology of Egypt, 
Babylon, Persia, Greece, and other coun¬ 
tries, bear a strong resemblance to the 
cobra; but after the adoption of this 
species as a religious emblem it was not 


i 5 8 


SEX WORSHIP. 


long before the significance attached to 
this particular kind was extended to the 
serpent in general, and, accordingly, we 
find that each nation had its own partic¬ 
ular variety of snake as a sacred symbol 
of the Divine Passion, or invigorating 
energy of nature, in its various interpreta¬ 
tions of Wisdom, Eternity, Life, Repro¬ 
duction, and so on. 

The important significance of the ser¬ 
pent is shown by the fact that this animal 
was employed in all the phallic rites and 
ceremonies of the ancients, and was an 
object of worship to every nation on the 
globe. According to the Bible, the 
brazen serpent made by Moses at the 
command of the Lord was regarded with 
the deepest veneration by the Israelites, 
and was religiously preserved and wor¬ 
shiped by them for a period of seven hun¬ 
dred years, when it was finally destroyed 
by Hezekiah, because of the idolatrous 
rites connected with its worship. 

All celebrations, especially those in 
honor of the procreative deities, were at- 


THE SERPENT AND THE CROSS. 1 59 

tended with the exhibition and adoration 
of the serpent. In the mysteries of Egypt, 
Greece and Rome, the sacred reptile was 
carried in the processions by troops of 
noble virgins, and many of the people 
had living snakes entwined about their 
heads, or carried them in their hands, 
while shouting with religious excitement. 
Nearly every ancient city of the East, as 
well as in Mexico and other portions of 
America, had its serpent temple, in which 
were kept enormous specimens of this 
sacred reptile, that were worshiped and 
waited upon with divine honors. 

Though, as a general rule, the serpent 
was venerated and adored as the repre¬ 
sentative of supreme power, wisdom and 
goodness, it was also not infrequently em¬ 
ployed as the symbol of evil. This nat¬ 
urally resulted from its use as an emblem 
of the sexual desire ; for, while this instinct 
was on the one hand regarded as the chief 
factor in the work of the Creator, and, 
therefore, the source of all good, it was also 
recognized as the cause of all evil. It 


160 SEX WORSHIP. 

was through it that sin came into the world; 
it was the blind, overmastering passion 
that incited mankind to disobedience 
and wickedness; the inflaming spirit of 
lust; the tempter, and the seducer. Con¬ 
sequently, the serpent became the rep¬ 
resentative of sin, the personification of 
evil; and this devil, this opposer of God, 
or the Good, was the sexual nature, in its 
sensual and lustful aspect. 

Accordingly, it is not difficult to com¬ 
prehend the allegorical significance of the 
serpent in the account of the temptation 
and fall of Adam and Eve. Their sin 
consisted in acquainting themselves with 
fleshly enjoyments. They resisted not 
the promptings of their sexual desires, but 
permitted themselves to partake of the 
forbidden fruit. 

The symbolism of the serpent is very ex¬ 
tensive, and is met with in a great variety 
of forms and combinations. It is, how¬ 
ever, seldom found as an isolated symbol, 
except in the well-known Egyptian design, 
in which it is shown with its tail in 


THE SERPENT AND THE CROSS. l6l 

its mouth, as an emblem of immortality 
and future life. As a rule, it appears in 
conjunction with male or female emblems, 
and one of the oldest and best-known 
phallic representations in which the serpent 
figures, is the Rod of Life, or the caduceus 
of Mercury. 

This represents two serpents twined 
about an upright staff or pole, and typifies 
the phallus receiving life and potency 
from the Divine Energy. Its special 
significance is due to the position of the 
serpents, which is that adopted by the 
cobra when mating. A Hindoo regards 
it as a most fortunate omen to be able to 
witness this serpentine union, and it is 
said that if while in this condition a cloth 
be thrown over the serpents it becomes 
endowed with extraordinary powers. 
Pieces of cloth, that have been thus en- 
charmed, are preserved with the greatest 
care and veneration, as talismans, for avert¬ 
ing evil influences or for securing conjugal 
blessings. 

The staff of life, in a great variety of 
ii 


SEX WORSHIP. 


162 

forms, is common on ancient coins, gems, 
and sculptures. In many designs the 
serpent is shown in conjunction with both 
male and female symbols, and ever has 
for its significance the Divine Passion, 
the invigorating and inspiring energy of 
nature. 

This divine, actuating force of nature 
owed its sacredness to the fact that it was 
the necessary and inciting means to the 
accomplishment of the supreme life-pur¬ 
pose of man and woman—the union of the 
two for the reproduction of life and the 
perpetuation of the race. It was in the 
gratification of the Divine Passion that 
man experienced his most exalted pleas¬ 
ure, and beheld the direct and immediate 
cause of a new being and the immortality 
of life. Hence, the act of generation, the 
union of the sexes, was regarded as su¬ 
premely sacred and divine. It was the 
sublime means ordained by the Creator 
for the fulfillment of his infinite purpose; 
and, as will be more fully shown in a sub¬ 
sequent chapter, was regarded as a most 


THE SERPENT AND THE CROSS. 163 

holy act, and was the object of universal 
worship and of devout, religious rites. 

Many realistic figures and designs were 
employed to represent this holy union of 
the sexes, and may still be seen on the 
temples and monuments of ancient Egypt 
and of India. The most extensive and 
sacred symbol of the Hindoos is the 
lingam-hi-yoni , an image made of wood or 
stone, in representation of the union of the 
lingam and yoni. 

Symbols of like significance, in endless 
varieties of design and size, were common 
among the ancients; but pre-eminent 
among them all was the cross , which, in 
its original and primitive form, was merely 
a simplification of the various designs 
used to represent the congress of the 
sexes. These designs, in their general 
outline and shape, consisted of an upright 
portion, connected at right angles with a 
horizontal base ; the whole resembling, to 
a greater or less extent, an inverted T 
(X) > an d this simplified form, when made 
of stone or wood, and set up on end, in 


164 


SEX WORSHIP. 


order to be more plainly exhibited, re¬ 
sulted in the figure of the cross. 

From time immemorial the cross has 
been used as a religious symbol. There 
is no portion of the earth inhabited 
by man in which it is not found, and there 
is no time in the history of the world— 
back even to the ages of prehistoric 
man,—that this sacred symbol has not 
been in existence. It was universally re-1 
garded as the emblem of life, of regenera¬ 
tion, or of immortality, and was ever held 
in the highest veneration as the holiest of 
all symbols. 

It appears in a great variety of shapes ; 
all of which, however, are readily reduci¬ 
ble to the simple, primary form. The 
cross of four arms meeting at right angles, 
and commonly called the Greek cross, is 
found on Assyrian tablets, on Egyptian 
and Persian monuments, and on Etruscan 
jars and vases ; while the Latin cross, the 
one now used as a Christian symbol, is to 
be seen on equally ancient coins, monu¬ 
ments and pottery, and stone images of 


THE SERPENT AND THE CROSS. 165 

it have been found in the remains of tem¬ 
ples and habitations that existed hun¬ 
dreds and even thousands of years before 
the time of Christ.. 

A modified form of this cross is the 
crux ansata , or handled cross, so called 
because the part above the cross-beam is 
in the form of an oval loop, and served as 
a handle for holding the image. This 
cross is found in many of the religious 
scenes pictured on the temples of ancient 
Egypt, and is most commonly shown in 
the hands of Isis, Osiris and other divini¬ 
ties, while images of it are not infre¬ 
quently found on the breasts of mummies. 
Assyrian and Babylonian sculptures fre¬ 
quently exhibit this form of the cross, and 
it is prominently shown on some of the 
coins found in the temple of Serapis. 

Early Phenician coins bear the design 
of a cross on one side, and the figure of a 
lamb on the other, while on some of them is 
engraved a semi-circular chain of beads 
with the cross attached ; similar in every 
respect to the modern rosary. Rosaries 


SEX WORSHIP. 


166 

of the same kind are also found among 
the Buddhists of Japan and the Lamas of 
Thibet. 

Long before the time of the Romans 
or of their predecessors, the Etruscans, 
who had reached a high development of 
civilization centuries before the founda¬ 
tion of Rome, there lived in the northern 
plains of Italy a people with whom the 
cross was a religious symbol. History 
tells us nothing of these people, and we 
know nothing of them, save that they 
lived in ignorance of art and civilization ; 
that they dwelt on platforms built over 
lakes, and that they marked the resting- 
places of their dead with an image of the 
cross. 

In the cave of Elephanta, near Bombay, 
is a sculpturing that records the destruc¬ 
tion of the male children at the birth of 
Krishna, the Hindoo Savior, who lived 
more than a thousand years before Christ, 
and over the head of the executioner, 
who is surrounded with supplicating moth¬ 
ers, is a cross. 


THE SERPENT AND THE CROSS. 167 

When the Spaniards came to America 
they were astonished to find that the na¬ 
tives not only worshiped a crucified Sav¬ 
ior and a Virgin Mother, but that the 
cross was their most sacred symbol, and 
typified salvation and the life to come. 
These unaccountable features of their re¬ 
ligion led to the invention by the Chris¬ 
tians of a legend, that St. Thomas had 
miraculously come over to America cen¬ 
turies before, and had revealed the doc¬ 
trines of the church to the Mexicans. But 
this legend would fail to account for the 
existence of the cross and other features 
of Christianity common among the pre¬ 
historic races of the Western Continent, 
prior to the Christian era, as shown by 
their remains. 

The cross was revered among the na¬ 
tives of Nicaragua, Yucatan, Guatemala, 
Paraguay, Brazil, and Peru. In the last 
named country the Incas worshiped a 
cross made of a single piece of jasper, 
while crosses of white marble have 
been found among the ruins of ancient 


SEX WORSHIP. 


168 

habitations in South and Central Amer- 
icas.- 

In the midst of the forests of Chiapas, 
in Mexico, is a ruined city. It had long 
been dead and overgrown at the time of 
the Spanish conquest. According to tra¬ 
dition, it was founded nine hundred years 
before Christ. In this a ncien t city of 
Pa lenq ue was found a building of religious 
worship, containing several altars, and at 
the back of one of them was discovered 
a stone slab, on which were sculptured 
two human figures standing one on each 
side of a cross, to which one of the figures 
was extending his arms and offering an in¬ 
fant. 

The earliest and most primitive form of 
the cross was one in the shape of the let¬ 
ter X, commonly called the tau cross. 
This was the old Scandinavian symbol of 
the god Thor, and is found among the 
very oldest nations of the world. It was 
the mark that the Israelites put on their 
doorposts with the blood of the lamb, on 
the occasion of the Passover, and in the 


THE SERPENT AND THE CROSS. 169 

book of Ezekiel (9 : 6) we read that this 
same sacred and talismanic sign was di¬ 
rected by the Lord to be placed on the 
foreheads of the men of Jerusalem who 
were to be spared in the destruction of 
the city : “ Slay utterly old and young, 
both maids and little children and women ; 
but come not near any man upon whom 
is the mark.” 

Crosses of this shape were commonly 
used in the religious rites of the ancients, 
and it was customary among some of the 
eastern races for the women to sacrifice 
their virginity by rupturing the hymen 
with a small stone cross of this kind. 

Images of this cross, which are referred 
to in the Bible as images of men, figured 
in the idolatrous worship of the Israelites ; 
and the use to which they were put may 
be learned from the 17th verse of 16th 
chapter of Ezekiel. 

For three or four centuries after Christ 
the tau cross was employed almost exclu¬ 
sively by the followers of the new reli¬ 
gion, and inscriptions of it, as well as of 


SEX WORSHIP. 


170 

the crux ansata , may be seen on the early 
tombs and monuments of the Christians. 
At first, however, the use of the cross in 
any form was not permitted by the church 
fathers, because it was a pagan symbol, 
and its introduction into Christian cele¬ 
brations was regarded as rank profanation, 
and sternly forbidden. 

Though it is popularly believed that 
our present familiar church symbol repre¬ 
sents the form of the cross on which Christ 
was crucified, there is absolutely no au¬ 
thority for this belief, as there is in exist¬ 
ence no authentic record describing the 
form of the cross on which Jesus was ex¬ 
ecuted. These instruments of execution 
were of various shapes ; the simplest form 
being an upright stake, on which the mal¬ 
efactor was sometimes impaled, and some¬ 
times fastened with cords or nails. In 
the other forms, the transverse beam was 
frequently separate from the upright, and 
this was the only part borne by the vic¬ 
tim to the place of execution. Christ, 
therefore, was not obliged to carry the en- 


THE SERPENT AND THE CROSS. iyi 

tire cross, as is generally supposed, and 
represented in pictures, but simply the 
cross-piece, which was fastened to the up¬ 
right stake after he reached Calvary. 

From the fact that the early Christians 
used the tau cross as a symbol of the 
crucifixion, it is probable that that was 
the form of cross on which Christ met 
his death, and this is the opinion held by 
most scholars and investigators. 

Through all the ages of humankind, the 
cross has been the dearest and holiest of 
emblems, and to the devout worshiper of 
to-day it is the same glorious symbol of 
redemption and resurrection that it was 
to the man or woman of five thousand 
years ago. Primarily representing the 
divine union of the sexes, it has ever typi¬ 
fied regeneration and the life everlasting. 


CHAPTER IX. 


THE DIVINE ACT. 

The universal employment of the cross in 
all ages, as a symbol of life and immortality, 
demonstrates most conclusively the innate 
and overmastering reverence of mankind 
for the divine act of generation,— the union 
of the sexes;—not only because of the 
ecstatic exaltation that it inspired (which, 
in many of the ancient religious and philo¬ 
sophical writings, is regarded as a mo¬ 
mentary union with God, an absorption 
into the Divine Soul), but because of its 
wonderful and sublime result. It was 
the acme of human bliss, a glimpse of the 
Divine Nature, the immortalizing act of 
God. It was this which first awoke in 
man a realization of the soul, a belief in 
the immortality of life. 

To the philosophers of antiquity man 
172 





THE DIVINE ACT. 


173 


and woman in their individualities were 
incomplete creatures ; they were but com¬ 
ponent parts of one being. They had 
in them the potentiality of reproduction 
and immortality, but in themselves they 
were barren and impotent. It was only 
in their union, in their reciprocal and 
co-operative activity, that they became 
one,—a perfect soul. Only then were 
they capable of fulfilling the divine will 
for which they were mutually created. 

It is by no means surprising, therefore, 
that this wondrous and omnipotent act 
should have been made the object of 
divine worship ; and to this day the union 
of the sexes is solemnized with religious 
ceremonies, in continued recognition of 
its holiness. According to law, marriage 
is simply a civil contract, a mere agree¬ 
ment to live together, and may be executed 
before any duly qualified officer of the 
law ; but the vast majority of us prefer that 
this contract shall be made the occasion 
of a religious celebration. In fact, many 
believe that marriage is not valid unless 


174 


SEX WORSHIP. 


performed by a representative of the 
Lord, and attended with blessings and 
ceremonial rites. The nuptial tie is held 
to be a divine bond,—“ Those whom God 
hath joined together let no man put 
asunder.” 

And, after all, what is the object of a 
marriage ceremony but a sanctification 
of the sexual union ? Reverence for the 
sacredness of this union is still inherent 
in mankind, and, because of its holiness, 
cannot be consummated until properly 
sanctioned and hallowed by these religious 
ceremonies. To engage in the act of gen¬ 
eration in the absence of such consecratory 
rites, is regarded as a wrong or a crime, 
even as it was four and five thousand 
years ago. 

In all ancient religions this reverent re¬ 
gard for the divine act of creation led to 
the adoption of various rites and practices 
for the sanctification of sexual unions, not 
only in the form of marriage, but of pros¬ 
titution, which, under certain circum¬ 
stances, was considered both proper and 


THE DIVINE ACT. 


175 


holy. Every ancient temple had connected 
with it a number of consecrated women, 
whose office it was to submit themselves 
to the embraces of any man who might 
come in unto them, upon the payment of 
a specified sum ; the money thus received 
being used for religious purposes. 

To the minds of the ancients no more 
appropriate nor holy means could be de¬ 
vised for raising money for the mainte¬ 
nance of the temple than a sanctified in¬ 
dulgence in the Divine Act. It was the 
most sublime and sacred of all human 
functions—the consummation of God’s 
will,—and, consequently, God’s temple 
was the most fitting place for its per¬ 
formance. 

One of the earliest allusions to these 
consecrated temple-women is found in 
the book of Genesis, * where we are told 
that Tamar deceived her father-in-law, 
Judah, by veiling herself after the manner 
of the women of the temple, and sitting 
before the door of Enajim, where Judah 
* Chapter xxxviii. 


SEX WORSHIP. 


176 

beheld her and went in unto her. The 
women of this class wore a special attire, 
the principal feature of which was a long 
veil, and conducted themselves quietly, 
not seeking customers, but waiting for 
them to make the first approach. In this 
guise Tamar succeeded in enticing Judah, 
who thought she was a temple attendant 
and, consequently, one with whom he 
was permitted to associate. The ordi¬ 
nary harlot of the Hebrews was an out¬ 
cast, and was conspicuous by her im¬ 
modest attire and bold conduct, it being 
not unusual for women of this character 
to rush up to men and kiss them in 
public. 

Consecrated prostitution was common 
among all the early nations of the world, 
and was everywhere regarded in the most 
sacred light. Some of the ancient places 
of worship were devoted entirely to 
this holy purpose, as appears from the 
fact that the chief temple of Babylon 
was called Bit-Shaggathu, which means, 
literally, the Temple for Copulation. 


THE DIVINE ACT. 


177 


The number of women attached to some 
of these places was very large ; the temple 
ctLYemis at Corinth, having no less than 
a thousand sacred prostitutes connected 
with it, while a similar number belonged 
to the temple of the same goddess at 
Eryx. In later times, among the Greeks 
and Romans, this practice lost much of 
its religious aspect, degenerating into 
sheer licentiousness, and Juvenal tells us 
that every temple in Rome was practically 
a licensed brothel. 

This practice, in its religious purity, is 
still in vogue in many parts of India, 
where every important temple belonging 
to the worshipers of what is known as the 
Sacteyan faith, has attached to it a troop 
of nautch girls, or “ women of the idol,” 
who are considered as holy devotees of 
the faith. These girls are chosen by the 
priests, when quite young, on account of 
their beauty, health and activity, and it 
is regarded as a rare honor by parents 
to have a daughter selected for this holy 
profession; even high officials and digni- 
12 



178 


SEX WORSHIP. 


taries looking upon it as a proud distinc¬ 
tion. 

Among some of the Hindoo sects these 
consecrated girls are considered particu¬ 
larly sacred, as personifications of the 
goddess Bhagavatee, and are the objects 
of devout adoration. Many persons per¬ 
form the worship of these girls daily. 
This is done by placing the girl, generally 
in a nude condition, upon a seat with 
flowers, paints, scented water and fruits, 
and addressing to her prayers and expres¬ 
sions of adoration. She is then presented 
with costly offerings of cloth, ornaments 
and wines, and at the conclusion of the 
ceremony, which is a lengthy and elabo¬ 
rate one, the worshiper offers incense, and 
prostrates himself before the living idol. 

After reaching sexual maturity these 
girls are initiated into the mysteries and 
duties of their profession, by the consum¬ 
mation of their marriage to the god. 
Their great natural beauty is heightened 
by all the enticements of drapery, jewels, 
seductive arts and general feminine witch- 


THE DIVINE ACT. 


179 


ery. Of all their arts dancing is the most 
highly cultivated ; not, however, the mode 
of dancing to which we are accustomed, 
but consisting of a pantomime made up 
of the most graceful and alluring dra¬ 
matic action, gestures, twistings and mar¬ 
velous undulatory and expressive motions 
of the arms and legs and the whole body; 
a performance which is at once poetical, 
sensual and skillful, and constitutes the 
chief ostensible employment of these 
nautch girls. 

Their true office, however, is to secure 
revenue for the sustenance and enrich¬ 
ment of the temple, by giving themselves 
to all who desire and are willing to pay 
for their possession. As they are beauti¬ 
ful, and accomplished in all seductive 
and passion-alluring arts, and are safe 
companions, by reason of their perfect 
state of health, and as it is considered both 
honorable and holy on their part, as well 
as on the part of their patrons, thus to 
swell the treasury of the temple, it need 
not be wondered that they are much 


i8o 


SEX WORSHIP. 


sought after and well paid for this part of 
their services. 

These consecrated women are treated 
with the greatest reverence and respect; 
while a Hindoo woman who prostitutes 
herself for private gain, is an outcast and 
bears a disgraceful name ; a further illus¬ 
tration of the sanctity attached to the 
Divine Act, and of the pollution and profa¬ 
nation resulting from its performance in 
the absence of religious auspices. 

Among many of the ancients it was 
taught that sexual indulgence was the true 
and only aim in life, and that it was a re¬ 
ligious duty every man and woman owed 
to God, the Creator. This doctrine was 
not infrequently carried to its extreme; 
nor was it peculiar alone to the people of 
antiquity, for we find that in the Middle 
Ages certain sects of Christians held that 
true blessedness on earth consisted in the 
full and unstinted enjoyment of venereal 
pleasures, which were ordained by the 
Lord as the divine means of fulfilling his 
glorious purpose, and of bringing man- 


THE DIVINE ACT. l8l 

kind more closely into communion with 
himself and with the eternal blessedness 
that awaited them hereafter. This idea 
was in some instances carried to such an 
extent, that not only were gross sensuality 
and crime permitted, but were actually 
recommended, if necessary for the attain¬ 
ment of the desired end. 

According to one of these sects, known 
as the Gnostics, the greatest of all sins (in 
fact, the only sin) consisted in opposing 
the appetites and passions. These were 
gifts of God ; they were given to man for 
a divine purpose, and every inclination 
inspired by them must be fulfilled as a 
religious duty ; a tenet which found many 
earnest followers, whose practices were 
fully in keeping with their beliefs. A 
custom adopted by them and religiously 
carried out, was that which required the 
host to offer his wife to any stranger 
or friend who was entertained at the 
house. To them genuine hospitality con¬ 
sisted in placing at the disposal of the 
visitor all that the host possessed, at the 


182 


SEX WORSHIP. 


same time affording the guest an oppor¬ 
tunity of indulging in the rite prescribed 
by the sect. 

The custom in this case was noteworthy, 
because of its adoption and practice by 
civilized men; but it has always been a 
common feature of primitive social condi¬ 
tions, and at the present day is to be found 
among many of the uncivilized people of 
the world. Among the coast tribes of 
British Columbia the present of a wife 
is one of the greatest honors that can be 
shown to a guest. The savage offers a 
visitor his wife as we offer him a seat at 
the table. It is not always the wife, how¬ 
ever, that is offered ; it is sometimes a 
daughter, a sister, or a servant. Thus, the 
people of Madagascar warn strangers to 
behave with decency to their wives, while 
they readily and willingly offer their 
daughters. A Tungas will give his daugh¬ 
ter for a time to any friend or traveler to 
whom he takes a fancy ; and if he has no 
daughter, he will give a servant, but not 
his wife ; while in other tribes wives are 


THE DIVINE ACT. 


183 

commonly given up and exchanged in 
token of friendship,—customs which will 
no doubt remind the reader of the practice 
in ancient Sparta of borrowing and loaning 
wives. 

The worship of the act of generation 
was common to all nations of the world, 
and formed an important feature of many 
of their religious celebrations in honor of 
the procreative deities. ‘'Homage to the 
Creator consisted not only in offerings and 
songs of praise, but in the ceremonial ex¬ 
ercise of the sacred function of generation 
itself; for, according to the teachings of 
all religions, no act can be more holy 
than that done in imitation of the Deity. 
To be as God, to do as he has done, to 
follow in his footsteps, are the golden and 
fundamental precepts of every religious 
faith. It was but natural, therefore, that 
the divine act of creation should have 
been devoutly performed as a religious 
rite, in the pious endeavor to thus imitate 
the Almighty in his glorious work of 
creation and reproduction, and that it 


SEX WORSHIP. 


184 

should have been made the object of 
special worship. 

A typical example of the manner in 
which this ancient rite was frequently 
performed, is to be found at this day 
among the Kauchiluas of India. Social 
restraints are wholly obliterated for the 
time being, in honor of the Creator and 
his divine functions. The women—maids 
and matrons—deposit their bodices in a 
box, each garment and each woman being 
numbered by a priest. At the close of 
the ritual of song and prayer, each male 
worshiper takes a bodice from the box, 
and the woman who has the number cor¬ 
responding to that on the garment, even 
though it be the sister or daughter of the 
man who draws it, becomes his partner for 
the fulfillment of that which has been the 
subject of their worship and praise during 
the preceding ceremonies. 

This rite and the wild excesses that are 
sometimes incidental to it, are engaged in 
by the most devout and pure-minded men 
and women; the majority of whom, out- 


THE DIVINE ACT. 


185 

side of this ceremony (which they consider 
a sacred and solemn observance of their 
faith), are as modest and as chaste as any 
of their more enlightened fellow-beings of 
the western world. 

Indiscriminate intercourse of this kind 
was practised in the temples, as a custom¬ 
ary feature of the vernal festivals of the 
Greeks and Romans, held in honor of 
the procreative deities, and was condoned 
and recommended as a proper and appro¬ 
priate means of glorifying the gods ; while 
St. Augustine leads us to infer that the 
celebration of the Eucharist among the 
early Christians was not infrequently con¬ 
cluded in a like manner. 

Festivals of a similar kind were cele¬ 
brated throughout Egypt, in honor of 
Jsis and Osiris, the deities of procreation. 
The celebration at Mendes was particu¬ 
larly noteworthy, for it was there that the 
sacred goat was employed in the ceremo¬ 
nies. These were of an intensely religious 
character, inducing a high state of excite¬ 
ment and enthusiasm, at the climax of 


SEX WORSHIP. 


186 

which many of the women offered them¬ 
selves to the goat, as the divine represent¬ 
ative of the Deity. 

We are told by Herodotus that the goat 
accepted this unnatural copulation, and 
that the union took place publicly in the 
assembly, being regarded by all as a most 
holy and sacred performance ; and the 
women who thus gave their persons were 
held in particular reverence thereafter as 
the recipients of divine favor. This par¬ 
ticular feature of the celebration was not, 
however, confined to the women, as is 
shown by frequent references in ancient 
records, and by Egyptian sculptures rep¬ 
resenting the union of men and female 
goats. 

As was stated before, such rites were 
performed through a truly devout and re¬ 
ligious desire to honor the Deity and win 
his favor, by imitating the divine act by 
which life is regenerated and immortalized. 
Among some of the ancient peoples, this 
divine generative function was typified by 
the public union of a man and woman ; a 


THE DIVINE ACT. 


IS/ 

performance which was attended with 
elaborate religious ceremonies, and consti¬ 
tuted the most sacred and most holy fea¬ 
ture of their worship. 

This particular rite is still practised 
by some of the phallic-worshiping sects 
of India, and is to be met with among 
the natives of some of the Pacific islands. 
A navigator, writing of one of their 
religious festivals, says: “ A young man 
of fine size and perfect proportions per¬ 
formed the creative act with a little 
miss of eleven or twelve before the as¬ 
sembled congregation, among whom were 
the leading people of rank of both 
sexes, without any thought of observing 
otherwise than an appropriate religious 
duty.” 

Accounts of many other ceremonies 
celebrated in honor of the divine procrea¬ 
tive function, might be given, but those 
already cited are sufficient to demonstrate 
how general and how persistent through 
all time has been man’s reverence for the 
immortalizing act of generation, and that 


188 


SEX WORSHIP. 


in every age and in every country man¬ 
kind has endeavored to honor and glorify 
the Author of Life by appropriate relig¬ 
ious ceremonies. 


CHAPTER X. 


REGENERATION. 

In all mythologies and religious creeds 
the regeneration of life figures as a promi¬ 
nent and fundamental feature. Clothed 
in a countless variety of myths, beliefs 
and doctrines, this glorious phase of na¬ 
ture and of life has from time imme¬ 
morial been the object of man’s joyous 
worship, as a typification of immortality 
and of the redemption of mankind. 
Through all ages the nations of the world 
have celebrated the renewal of life with 
gladsome religious festivals ; festivals that, 
in various modifications, are retained to 
this day, and form the chief and most 
inspiring feature of modern religious 
worship. 

There is not a time in the history of 
the human race of which we have any rec¬ 
ord, that mankind did not celebrate the 
189 



190 


SEX WORSHIP. 


vernal reanimation of nature ; the resur¬ 
rection of life. After a glorious reign in 
the heavens, during which the earth 
revels in joyousness and beauty, the sun 
enters the wintry realms of the southern 
sky, leaving the world cold and cheerless. 
But after a short though dreary absence, 
during which all nature mourns and weeps, 
he reappears in the majesty of his light 
and power, and brings back to earth the 
joy and the strength that have lain cold 
and dead beneath the ban of winter. The 
world, the Earth Mother, is quickened 
by the vitalizing power of the sun, the 
Father. Life is re-born. The earth once 
more awakes with renewed vitality and 
beauty. All the world, all nature is a 
triumphant symbolization of life’s regen¬ 
eration. 

To primitive man these seasonal events 
were of the most vital import. To him they 
meant more than mere natural phenomena. 
They were the supreme manifestations 
of the universal life in its wondrous phases 
of birth, death, and resurrec tion. Spring, 

/-1/e r/v&i 

tf/vd x 

^ Wi/tter /-s f; c e 


REGENERATION. 


I 9 I 

summer, autumn and winter, the months, 
the day and the night, the earth, the sun 
and the multitude of features and phenom¬ 
ena incident to the annual revolution of 
the earth became living entities, personi¬ 
fications of beings and deities, whose re¬ 
lationship one to the other, and the parts 
they played in the great drama of nature, 
gave rise to those myths and legends, 
that, as before stated, constitute the basis 
of every system of mythology and every 
theological creed. 

The well-known myths of the Greeks, 
Romans and Scandinavians, and our famil¬ 
iar nursery tales—“ Little Red Riding 
Hood,” “ Cinderella,” “ Sleeping Beauty,” 
and many more, — together with the 
legends of theology, are all traceable to the 
simple allegories invented by early man as 
his solution of the manifestations of nature. 

Darkness and light, winter and summer ; 
the dawn of the morning, and the advent 
of spring; the triumph of day over night, 
of life over death—these are the basic 
themes of all nature-stories and dramas. 


192 


SEX WORSHIP. 


Gods, demigods, monsters, spirits, angels, 
animals, men, women and children, all 
serve their suggestive parts in the allegor- 
ization of the forces and phenomena of 
life. 

In many instances the sun, or life, in its 
garb of summer, was personified as a 
youth, who, like Baldur, the Scandi¬ 
navian summer-god, is slain through the 
treachery of the evil being representing 
the frost or the chilling month of De¬ 
cember, and is carried to the under-world, 
there to remain as a captive of the god of 
winter, but eventually to return to earth 
and once more gladden it with his pres¬ 
ence. 

Again, as in the myth connected 
with the Eleusinian mysteries of the 
Greeks, life is a maiden—Persephone,— 
who is carried away by Pluto to the realm 
of shades, but through the supplications 
of her mother, Demeter, the goddess of 
the earth, she is permitted to return to 
the world every summer. 

In addition to these more simple and ob- 


REGENERATION. 


193 


vious myths the great solar phenomena 
gave rise to allegories of a more elaborate 
and theological character. The sun was 
the almighty Creator himself, in the form 
of a divine Savior, coming to redeem the 
world from its darkness. The morning star 
was his celestial herald, while the night was 
a cruel tyrant,who feared the advent of him 
who would rule the earth with light, and 
sought to destroy him by extinguishing 
all the lights, all the stars, of heaven. 
The twelve months, or the twelve signs of 
the zodiac, were the attendants of the 
Redeemer in his life journey, during which 
he glorified the earth with his potent and 
sublime presence. The twel fth rnonth 
was his betrayer, and through this be¬ 
trayer he met his doom at the winter 
solstice, and descended into the abode of 
death, only to rise again, however, in all 
his glory and supremacy of power for the 
eternal salvation of men. 

This version we find represented in the 
legends of Qsiris, Mithras, Buddha, Krish¬ 
na and all the other virgin-born Re- 

13 




194 


SEX WORSHIP. 


deemers of the world. Though widely 
separated, both as to time and place, 
each of them is said to have been born 
on the day corresponding to our twenty- 
fifth of December ; for it is then that the 
sun is born. The winter solstice is past, 
and the great luminary begins his revivi- 
fying journey northward. 

The first moment after midnight of De^| 
cember 24th all the nations of the earth,] 
as if in common accord, celebrated the ac¬ 
couchement of the Queen of Heaven, or 
the Virgin Mother, and the birth of a gochj 
It was not, however, until about the fifth 
century of the Christian era that this date 
was generally agreed upon as the birthday 
of Jesus; some having chosen the 19th of 
April, others the 20th of May, and still 
others the 5th of January. It was prob¬ 
ably the confusion attendant upon such 
a disagreement that led the fathers of the 
church to designate the 25th of December 
as the date of the birth of Christ ; that 
being the day upon which all other na¬ 
tions celebrated a similar event. 


REGENERATION. 


195 


In India the day is the occasion of 
universal rejoicing. The houses are dec¬ 
orated with garlands, and friends ex¬ 
change presents, in conformity with a 
custom of great antiquity. Among the 
ancient Persians it was a day of celebra¬ 
tion in honor of their Lord and Savior, 
Mithras. The ancient Egyptians also 
observed this day as the anniversary of 
the birth of their Savior, H on jL$, who, with 
his virgin-mother, Isis, was worshiped two 
thousand years before the time of Moses. 
The greatest festival among the Scandi¬ 
navians was at this time of the year, when 
the Jul, or Yule, was celebrated in honor 
of Freyr, the son of their supreme god. 

It is, perhaps in the story of jCrishaa, 
the Hindoo Savior, that we find the most 
elaborate and at the same time the most 
closely allied version of the primitive 
sun-myth. He was conceived by the Holy 
Spirit, and born of the Virgin Devaki, in 
a cave, about three thousand years ago. 
His advent was heralded by a brilliant 
star, and by the joyful paeans of angels, 


SEX WORSHIP. 


196 

or spirits, who appeared in the heavens 
and announced the glad tidings to the 
wondering and awe-struck mortals. Upon 
the announcement of his birth lowly 
herdsmen and great prophets came and 
prostrated themselves before the divine 
child, while at the same time the tyrant 
Kansa ordered the killing of all the male 
infants, out of fear for this new-born ruler ; 
yet the Savior miraculously escaped. 

Accompanied by his disciples, to whom 
he was known as Jezeus, he wandered 
about the country, proclaiming peace and 
salvation, preaching the doctrine of love 
and humility, healing the sick, restoring 
the maimed, the deaf and the blind, and 
raising the dead ; until, after many perse¬ 
cutions, and through the treachery of one 
of his disciples, he gave up his life in di¬ 
vine atonement for the sins of the world. 
He met his death on the cross, and the 
crucifix became his sacred emblem ; rep¬ 
resentations of the crucifixion being not 
uncommon among the ancient sculptur- 
ings of India, and pictorial records have 


REGENERATION. 


197 


been found showing the resurrected 
Krishna with marks of holes in his hands 
and feet. 

At the hour of his death the sun was 
darkened, the sky rained fire and ashes, 
and those that were dead walked again 
upon the earth. He descended into the 
abode of departed spirits, and on the t hird 
day he rose from the dead and ascended 
bodily into heaven, from whence, accord¬ 
ing to his own prophecy, he will come 
again on the last day of the world, when 
the ages shall have been completed ; and 
at his coming the sun and the moon will 
be darkened, the earth will tremble, and 
the stars fall from the firmament. 

The ancient springtime festivals, celeH 
brated in honor of the resurrected life, 
reached their highest and most elaborate 
development in Egypt, Greece and Rome, 
and were commonly known as the “ m ys¬ 
teries.” These mysteries constituted thej 
most important and sacred feature of an¬ 
cient religious worship, and have left their 
impress on every age and generation, down 


SEX WORSHIP. 


198 

to the present day, in the shape of mystic 
orders and secret societies. 

They were so called because of the se¬ 
crecy in which many of their rites were 
conducted, and because of the deep and 
holy mystery attached to them. This love 
of the mysterious is inherent in the human 
race and, as may be imagined, was exhib¬ 
ited in its most intense form among the 
emotional and superstitious people of 
antiquity. 

The symbols and rites of their celebra¬ 
tions were invested by the priests with a 
mystical and occult significance, unintelli¬ 
gible to the masses and confided only to 
those who, after most severe trials of 
faith and endurance, were found worthy 
of initiation into the divine secrets. They 
were then made acquainted with the ex¬ 
alted and abstruse doctrines evolved by 
the priesthood from the simple worship of 
nature; doctrines that constituted a the¬ 
osophy of the most transcendent and 
spiritual character; grand and sublime in 
the loftiness of its teachings and ideality 


REGENERATION. 199 

and in the beauty of its poetic concep¬ 
tions. 

One of the principal and most sacredly 
guarded ceremonial features of these mys¬ 
teries, was that known as the ..Holy Sacra¬ 
ment, the adoration of the deity by eating 
his flesh and drinking his blood, in the 
form of consecrated bread and wine, which 
were passed about by white-robed priests 
and solemnly partaken of by the initiates 
in holy communion. 

The eating of the body and blood of 
a god in this symbolical manner was 
a common religious rite in all parts of 
the ancient world, including the west¬ 
ern continent, where, long prior to its 
discovery by Europeans, the Mexicans 
and Peruvians celebrated what they called 
the Most Holy Feast, at which they 
ate the flesh of their god and drank his 
blood ; not infrequently partaking of real 
flesh and blood, instead of the allegorical 
substitutes. 

In the primitive significance of this sac¬ 
rament, as celebrated in the Eleusinian 


200 


SEX WORSHIP. 


mysteries, the bread represented Ceres, 
the goddess of corn, while in a like man¬ 
ner the wine represented Bacchus, the god 
of wine, who gave his blood to men for 
their sustenance; so that, prior to the 
doctrine of transubstantiation, which only 
became necessary in the higher develop¬ 
ment of formal worship and theological 
subtleties, the bread and wine were wor¬ 
shiped in the simple belief that they were 
the true body and blood, the actual sub¬ 
stance, of the Mother and Father of Life. 

This distinction of the two elements, 
and their ascription to separate deities, 
is also found in the records of the an¬ 
cient Egyptian mysteries, though their 
significance was reversed in accordance 
with the symbolism of phallic worship. 
The wine represented Isis, or the female 
element; while the bread, which was 
made in the form of a round, flat cake, in 
representation of the sun, was the symbol 
of Osiris, or male principle; the partaking 
of both being significant of regeneration, 
or of the life to come. 


REGENERATION. 


201 

L The mysteries of Isis and Osiris, of 
Egypt, the mysteries of the Babylonians, 
the Eleusinian mysteries of the Greeks, 
the mysteries of Bacchus and Venus at 
Rome, together with many others of lesser 
importance, were all festivals in celebra¬ 
tion of the new-born life and the regen¬ 
erative uniop of the creative elements of 
nature. They all set forth and illustrated 
by solemn and impressive rites and mys¬ 
tical symbols the grand phenomena of 
nature in its creation and perpetuation of 
life. 

Among the Greeks and Romans these 
vernal festivals were held in honor of 
Bacchus, or Dionysos, the god of life. 
He was called the father of gods and 
men ; “ the Begotten of Love ” (having 
been born of a virgin through immaculate 
love), and was frequently represented by 
the Romans under the name and form of 
Priapus. 

Considering the general state of reserve 
and restraint in which the Grecian women 
lived, we may gain some idea of the high 


202 


SEX WORSHIP. 


regard in which these observances were 
held, and the powerful influence they ex¬ 
ercised over the mind and emotions, when 
we note to what a degree of extravagance 
the religious enthusiasm of these women 
was carried on such occasions, particularly 
at the celebration of the Eleusinian mys¬ 
teries and the Dionysia. 

The gravest matrons and proudest prin¬ 
cesses apparently laid aside all dignity and 
modesty, and vied with each other in rev¬ 
elry. They ran screaming through the 
woods and over mountains, fantastically 
dressed or half naked, their hair inter¬ 
woven with ivy and vine leaves and not 
infrequently with living serpents, that 
twined about their heads and necks. 
Their religious excitement sometimes 
became so great, that they ate raw flesh, 
tearing living animals to pieces with their 
teeth, and devouring them while yet warm 
and palpitating. 

On these festal occasions they likewise 
repaired to the temples or other places 
rendered sacred by the presence of the 


REGENERATION. 


203 


god’s image, and there made offerings to 
the divine emblem, by wreathing the phal¬ 
lus with flowers and anointing it with 
specially prepared wine. Their devotions 
were always accompanied with music and 
wine, which were considered the sacred 
means of exalting and raising the mind to a 
closer communion with the Divine Power ; 
and these enthusiastic devotees willingly 
gave themselves up to the embraces of the 
no less enthusiastic worshipers of the op¬ 
posite sex, in the nocturnal ceremonies, 
that had for their object the glorification 
of the deity by an indulgence in the di¬ 
vine act of generation. 

The Romans borrowed their religious 
forms and rites from the Greeks, and while 
they did not imbibe the poetry, sentiment 
and enthusiasm that characterized the 
Grecian festivities, they were none the less 
devout and sincere. Their Bacchanalian 
mysteries were celebrated in the Temple of 
Bacchus, at Rome, and in the sacred woods 
near the Tiber. At first these ceremonies 
were held in the daytime, and were at- 


204 SEX WORSHIP. 

tended only by the women, who were 
initiated into the mysteries by the priests; 
but they were subsequently celebrated at 
night, and the initiation of young men 
was permitted, with the result that in a 
short time it led to the admittance of 
those who were not in sympathy with the 
religious spirit of the occasion, but took 
advantage of the opportunity for indul¬ 
gence in licentious practices and other 
crimes, which were speedily confounded 
with the true object of the festival, and 
finally led to the abolishment of the cele¬ 
bration by a decree of the Senate. 

The Liberalia, the Floralia, and the 
festival of Venus were popular vernal 
festivals, celebrated by the Romans in 
honor of the procreative deities and their 
vitalizing function, as manifested by the 
glorious regeneration of life upon the 
earth. While these festivals were of a 
religious character, they were given up to 
mirth, jollity and public amusements, ac¬ 
companied by a general relaxation of the 
laws and of social proprieties, as a fitting 


REGENERATION. 205 

manner of celebrating the return of life 
and gladness. 

These springtime festivals, in celebration 
of resurrected life and the generative 
powers of nature, were common among 
all nations from the earliest times, and it 
is in some of the particular forms of these 
celebrations that we find the origin of 
some of the features of our own joyous 
festival — Easter. The name itself is ■; 
derived from the old Teutons and Saxons, 
whose Queen of Heaven, or goddess of 
life, was called Eastre. The month of 
April was dedicated to this deity, and a 
feast of rejoicing was held in her honor at 
that time of the year. It was customary 
to make presents of eggs, which were 
brightly decorated or colored; the egg 
being the sacred emblem of the resurrec¬ 
tion of life, and therefore used as an offer¬ 
ing to the goddess on this occasion. 

The early Germans and Franks also pre¬ 
pared a special kind of bread or bun, that 
was eaten at this time, as specially sacred 
to Eastre ; a springtime custom that was 


20 6 


SEX WORSHIP. 


likewise common among the Egyptians, 
who impressed the figure of a cross upon 
their cakes. 

Eggs and buns figured also in the Chal¬ 
dean rites connected with the worship of 
the goddess of spring, the Renewer of Life, 
upwards of four thousand years ago, and 
were familiar features in the worship of 
the Queen of Heaven, Ishtar, as early as 
the days of Cecrops, the founder of 
Athens, fifteen hundred years before 
Christ. 

These ancient buns, which were offered 
to the Queen of Heaven, and used in sacri¬ 
fices to other generative deities, were 
formed in the shape of the reproductive 
organs; a custom to which reference is 
made in the book of Jeremiah, where the 
prophet says, “ The children gather wood, 
the fathers kindle the fire, and the women 
knead the dough to make cakes to the 
Queen of Heaven.” 

The practice of making Easter buns in 
this shape was common among some of 
the early Christians, and prevails in certain 


REGENERATION. 


207 


parts of France to this day. Small cakes 
in the shape of a phallus are made as of¬ 
ferings at Easter-time, and carried about 
and presented from house to house. 

On the festival of Palm Sunday, some¬ 
times known as the Feast of the Privy 
Members, it was customary, not long since 
in certain French provinces, for each of the 
women and children in the procession to 
carry a phallus, made of bread, attached to 
the end of a palm branch. These phalli 
were subsequently blessed by the priests, 
and preserved by the women during the 
year. 

Nearly all of these ancient vernal festCJ 
vals and mysteries celebrated the return 
or the resurrection of a god—the theolog¬ 
ical allegory of the regeneration of life. 
As has been already stated, all of the 
world’s redeemers are recorded to have 
risen from the dead, after remainingin the 
tomb for a period of three, days. These 
three days,primarily represented the three 
months intervening between the winter 
solstice and the vernal equinox, during 


208 


SEX WORSHIP. 


which time the sun has lost his power, 
and the world is without its great life- 
giver. 

Krishna, Buddha, Zoroaster, Osiris, 
Mithras, Horus, Bacchus, Tammuz, Attis, 
Quetzalcoatl and many more, rose again Ch.o^y 
on the third day, after having died for the 
sake of the world, and ascended into 
heaven. The ceremonies and observances 
in commemoration of this event always 
took place in the spring, and were of the 
same general character in all ages and 
among all nations. 

The death and resurrection of Tammuz, 
or Adonis, who, under a variety of names 
and forms, appears in many legends, was 
annually celebrated at the beginning of 
spring by the Syrians, Babylonians, and 
other nations. In the mysteries connected 
with this celebration an image of the Sav¬ 
ior was carried with great solemnity to a 
tomb, and for two days mournful rites 
were celebrated in commemoration of his 
trials, sacrifice and death, while on the 
third day they gave place to loud hosan- 


REGENERATION. 


209 

nas and feasts of rejoicing: “The Lord 
is risen and lives again! Hail to the 
Dove, the Restorer of Light! ” 

The fact that the children of Israel took 
part in the celebration of these mysteries, 
is recorded in the book of Ezekiel (8 : 14), 
where the prophet exclaims, “ Behold, 
there sat women weeping for Tammuz !” 
And impartial students of the Bible are 
not unaware of the fact, that in many in¬ 
stances the supposed prophetic references 
to Christ by King David and the proph¬ 
ets, when they make mention of a Son 
of God, a Redeemer, or He who sits at 
the right hand of the Lord, are simply 
references to this Savior, Tammuz, or 
Adonis, whose worship had for centuries 
been an established religious custom, and 
the story of whose birth, death and resur¬ 
rection was familiarly referred to, in ex¬ 
emplification of the immortality of life or 
of the redemption of mankind. 

In their mysteries the ancient Egyp¬ 
tians celebrated each spring the death, 
resurrection and ascension of Osiris, the 

14 


210 


SEX WORSHIP. 


Creator and Savior of men. The cere¬ 
monies attendant upon this celebration 
were of a most holy character, invested 
with the deepest mystery and sanctity. 
The sacred ark was reverently and tear¬ 
fully worshiped, as the sepulcher of the 
departed god ; and the lamentations and 
mourning for his decease marked the be¬ 
ginning of the mysteries. On the third 
day of his death the priests, in solemn 
procession, proceeded to the river in the 
night, carrying the ark with them. Wait¬ 
ing there until the morning they welcomed 
the rising sun with a loud and joyous 
shout, exclaiming “ Osiris is risen ! ” 

It matters not to what race nor to what 
age we turn, we ever find the same rever¬ 
ent regard for the regeneration of life; 
and through its multitude of myths, 
legends, creeds and celebrations, however 
extravagant or inconsistent they may ap¬ 
pear, we trace the constant aim of man¬ 
kind to glorify the Creator, and Savior of 
the world, as primarily typified by the 
sun; while beneath them all lies the uni- 


REGENERATION. 


211 


versal, actuating reverence for the great 
and unsolvable mystery of life—the foun¬ 
dation and the source of all religious wor¬ 
ship. 




APPENDIX. 


LIST OF PRINCIPAL WORKS ON PHALLICISM. 

The Anacalypsis :. An attempt to draw 
aside the Veil of the Saitic Isis, or an Inquiry 
into the Origin of Languages, Nations 
and Religions. —Godfrey Higgins ; privately 
printed. 

Ancient Faiths Embodied in Ancient Names. 
—Thomas Inman, M. D. 

Ancient Pagan and Modern Christian Sym¬ 
bolism Exposed and Explained.— Thomas 
Inman, M.D. 

Ancient Pillars, Stones and Cairns .— Thomas 
Inman, M.D. 

A?icie?it Symbol Worship —Influence of the 
Phallic Idea in the Religions of Antiquity.— 
H odder M. Westropp and C. Staniland 
Wake. 

Crux An sata (Handled Cross).— Anon. ; 
privately printed. 

Cultus Arborum —A Descriptive Account 

213 



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